AGE OF EMPIRES 3 FAQ / WALKTHROUGH
Guide author: Useless
E-mail: utuselessut@hotmail.com
Guide version: 1.5
Game version: 1.0
System: PC
Copyright: Useless 2006
This entire document is (c) 2006 Useless. All trademarks are property of
their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my
permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on your website,
making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making
reference to any material contained within.
Please do not email me to ask for permission to host this guide, as I will be
unable to give it to you. I don’t have enough time to manage and upload FAQ
versions at any sites other than the three listed below. These sites are
therefore the only ones permitted to host this guide:
GameFAQS.com
NeoSeeker.com
TheGameReviews.com
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1. INTRODUCTION
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1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.1.1 WELCOME
1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
1.3 CONTACT ME
2. WALKTHROUGH
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2.1 ACT I: BLOOD
2.1.1 BREAKOUT
2.1.2 INTO THE CAVES
2.1.3 PIRATES!
2.1.4 THE OTTOMAN FORT
2.1.5 TEMPLES OF THE AZTEC
2.1.6 A PIRATE’S HELP
2.1.7 SPANISH TREASURE FLEET
2.1.8 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?
2.2 ACT II: ICE
2.2.1 DEFEND THE COLONY
2.2.2 STRANGE ALLIANCES
2.2.3 THE RESCUE
2.2.4 THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR
2.2.5 THE GREAT LAKES
2.2.6 RESPECT
2.2.7 WARWICK’S STRONGHOLD
2.2.8 BRING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
2.3 ACT III: STEEL
2.3.1 RACE FOR THE RAILS
2.3.2 HOLD THE FORT
2.3.3 THE BONEGUARD’S LAIR
2.3.4 THE LOST SPANISH GOLD
2.3.5 BOLIVAR’S REVOLT
2.3.6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANDES
2.3.7 LAST CITY OF THE INCA
2.3.8 LAST STAND OF THE BONEGUARD
3. CONTRIBUTIONS
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4. VERSION HISTORY
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1. INTRODUCTION
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1.1 INTRODUCTION
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1.1.1 WELCOME
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Hi, welcome to my guide to Age Of Empires 3. This is my eighth guide and I’m
beginning to run out of stuff to put in introductions. So I’ll try to keep it
short.
Firstly, I never bother checking if the games I write guides to already have
other guides available. For all I know, this guide is the billionth one for
AOE 3, or maybe it’s the only one. Whatever it is, thanks for picking this
one.
AOE 3 is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, but that doesn’t mean it’s not
possible to write a walkthrough for it. The idea of this guide is to tell you
what you should be doing and when, what the enemy will do, where they are, how
to get maximum points out of each scenario, etc. Obviously, you will play your
own way and build your own units, etc., but the guide can still help you to
know whether you’re doing well, or how you could maybe do better.
Though this is the third (kind of) instalment of the Age Of Empires series,
playing any of the previous games in the series is not required for learning
how to play this one. AOE 3 bears little resemblance to its prequels, and in
fact it’s more like a mixture of Settlers 5: Heritage Of Kings, Warcraft 3 and
very definitely Command and Conquer: Generals. It even reminded me of Icewind
Dale and Desperados in parts; and about the only games it didn’t call to mind
were the previous Age Of Empires releases.
I played the game on Moderate difficulty, since it’s the one most people will
choose.
I’ve tried to bung in as much story information as I can, which is hardly any.
All I can do is quote the map blurbs and objectives. My cutscenes don’t play
properly: the text skips past insanely fast and I can’t read it; and the
cinematics freeze, slow, speed up, jump, freeze again and then end. I have no
idea who the characters are, what they’re doing, or what’s going on beyond
what little I can glean from the mission progression, so you’ll have to view
the movies yourself to find out what the hell.
Throughout each level you will be given objectives, though you only get one
Primary Objective (PO), and possibly some Secondary Objectives (SO), at the
beginning of the level. I’ve listed each of the sub-objectives as they occur,
as well as what triggers them and what you have to do to complete them.
Primary Objectives must be completed in order to finish the level, but the
Secondary Objectives are just bonuses that you can skip if you want.
This game is designed to reward you for gaining lots of experience points,
which can be collected by killing as many units and buildings as possible,
exploring the fog of war, completing objectives, etc. Unfortunately the game
also has some bugs connected to completing objectives in ways that the
computer doesn’t expect, so sometimes the level won’t end if you try to
collect more experience by destroying an enemy’s entire base before getting
rid of that town centre or whatever. I’ve had to write the guide based around
letting you complete each level, so sometimes I’ve ended up with less
experience than I might otherwise have had – if you get far more XP than me
it’s probably because the game has let you do what you want.
Finally, there are no property tables or stats in here. This is just a text
walkthrough designed to take players through each level, and there’s no way in
freeze-dried buggery I can be bothered putting in every detail about every
building and unit, etc.
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1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
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I’ve had this game since Christmas 2005, and it’s only in the last three weeks
(November to December 2006) that I’ve gotten into it and completed it, and
also written this guide for it. This was because I found quite a few things to
be off-putting about the game when I first tried it nearly a year ago. The
graphics were horribly grainy and high-colour; the tutorial missions were
unhelpful; the first campaign mission was intimidatingly hard; and my
experience of Age Of Empires 2 was little help in learning the menu system of
this instalment.
If any of the above is also true of you I wouldn’t be surprised, but if you
stick with the game and successfully get through the first mission, it gets a
lot better and more fun, and you do get used to the painful graphics after a
while. The game is worth playing, though you’ll probably find it to be less
like AOE 2 or 1, and more like C+C: Generals or Warcraft 3. There’s also none
of the educational history side of the previous AOE games, which I never
thought I’d miss but do.
Anyway, this is just a few notes about certain aspects of the game which you
might want to take particular notice of: either changes from the old AOE
format; or features which can make your progress through this game a lot
easier. These are things which I would have liked to have known when I first
played the game and gave up, because I would have been much more likely to
stick with it the first time.
If you have any other strategies or tricks which would fit into this section
please mail me and let me know. Cheers.
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BUILDINGS
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Don’t forget your town bell if your town is under close attack. It can very
often save your entire base from destruction if the computer’s units are daft
enough to get too close. It’s almost like another fort.
Speaking of forts, there are no castles (or stone) in this game, which really
gets noticeable around halfway through, when you start to realise how
basically simple every enemy base is to take out. No more prolonged sieges
outside enemy walls like in AOE 2. The best fortification you can have is a
fort, and once your fort is gone you can’t replace it – the same goes for your
computer enemies.
Actually you can replace a fort later in the game, since you get to choose
whether you’d like a fort or a factory when you advance to the Industrial Age.
Since you can also have a Fort and Factory card each in your Home City, this
means you get three shots at these buildings, allowing you to pick two of one
and one of the other. Choose based on whether you’re having a harder time
defending your base and building an army, or a harder time collecting
resources.
Factories are fantastic buildings – basically a means to get free resources
fast. If you have two factories you will quickly be rolling in money, and the
game will become extremely easy. They can also be made to constantly produce
artillery units (heavy cannon) for free, though you will have to watch your
population limit.
In the third Act of the game you will notice that you get an extra peasant
every time you build a house. This annoyed me at first, but it’s actually a
much cheaper way of producing peasants. The houses cost 150 wood instead of
the usual 100, but the fact that you get a peasant with each one means that
you’re spending 50 wood per new peasant, rather than 100 food each time. And
you’re also building houses at the same time. Remember this and don’t go
wasting tons of food on building settlers from the town centre.
Your peasants no longer have the task of repairing your buildings – now you
just wait until the building is no longer under attack and there are no
enemies in the vicinity, then click the Repair icon to slowly bring it back to
full health. It even tells you how much it will cost to complete the repair,
which is a much better system than the old thing of keeping peasants hanging
around just in case.
Walls repair in the same way. To build gates you no longer have to select them
with a peasant – now you just click on a section of built wall and click the
Gate icon to make a gate. It took me ages to find this. Enemy units can’t come
through your gates, even when they are open.
Trading posts are another great new addition to the AOE games. Posts built in
Native American villages will allow you to train Native units and buy unique
upgrades. Posts built on trading routes will generate food, wood, gold or
experience every time a vehicle hits the station. Trading posts are a bit like
UT Domination control points – they never go away, but they can be controlled
by you or your enemy. Take them if you see them – they can only help.
Try to put unit production building rally points near your town centre or
outpost towers. If you are building troops from a barracks which is under
attack, you can let your newly produced units act as decoys, drawing the
enemies towards a building which can damage them.
Always use your defense buildings as much as possible, especially when
attacking an opposing army. Running out into the middle of a field to engage
an enemy is pointless if you have seven towers back at your base. Let the
enemy come to your fortified base, where you will have an enormous advantage –
you can save a lot of units and money this way.
UNITS
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It’s always best to find a unit you like and stick with it, instead of
building enormous armies with bits of everything. It’s too annoying to have to
rebuild very varied armies: I tend to just build and upgrade musketeers,
grenadiers and dragoons, with falconets and mortars for support. You’ll have
your own preferences, but bear in mind that upgrading every type of unit is
expensive and unnecessary. Often two mortars and two falconets can delete a
base nearly on their own, so massive armies are superfluous and a waste of
time.
Falconets, in my opinion, are the best units in the entire game. Fully
upgraded they are better and more versatile than any other unit (except maybe
the excellent monitor ships you get in the final level of Act III) hands down
at killing both enemy units and buildings. If you build nothing other than
grenadiers and falconets you can make your enemy’s life complete and utter
hell. Heavy cannon are great too, since they can fire outwith a tower or
fort’s range; but they are harder to come by than falconets.
Units are repaired by using a priest to heal them – this includes artillery.
The only units not repaired by priests are ships, which can be repaired by
sending them to a nearby dock and keeping them still while their health bar
climbs.
Some ships have the capacity to build units and store them on board. This
saves you from having to ferry units back and forth across the seas, and also
protects any new units from being ejected into danger on land.
I suggest that you enable two things through the Options menu: Advanced
Formations and Enable Easy Drag Military. Advanced Formations will allow you
to form your grouped units into certain stances, depending on what type of
combat they’re engaging in – it’s much better than just charging in. And Easy
Drag will let you just select combat units and heroes when you bandbox select
a large group at once.
HEROES
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Your heroes can’t die but they can be disabled if they lose nearly all their
health. Until you approach an unconscious hero with another friendly unit, he
or she will remain lying on the ground, incapable of doing anything. You can
save a lot of units by sending your heroes in first as decoys: while the enemy
units are all battering at your indestructible heroes the rest of your army
can wipe them out without suffering any casualties.
Heroes also have unique attacks and other abilities, which can very often
swing battles in your favour if used properly. This is especially true in the
RPG-ish missions, where you’re trying to get a few units from one end of a
perilous map to the other.
HOME CITY
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You can choose cards from five different areas of your Home City by clicking
between the five tabs on the upper left of the lower window. I played the game
all the way through without realising this, and the only cards I picked were
the ones on whichever tab was open at the time.
The more experience you pick up during the levels, the faster your Home City
will advance and the more cards you will be able to choose from. Try to
complete as many secondary objectives as you can; also explore as much of the
maps as possible, and pick up the treasure items. Killing off more than just
the required enemy buildings and units is another good way to get your points
up. It all helps.
The game makes a big deal about picking the cards to suit your own playing
style and civilization, but this is bollocks. A lot of the cards pick
themselves. It should be obvious that a card which gives you two falconets is
better than a card which increases the speed at which villagers gather food
from hunting. Since every building and upgrade in the game exists to provide
you with units with which to defeat your enemy, always go with the free units
cards first. The Fort and Factory cards are extremely valuable too.
IMPERIAL AGE
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Advancing to the Imperial Age is just a luxury in this game. Instead of
allowing access to better units it just allows access to more upgrades –
hitpoints increases, better armour, etc. There is no mission in the game
where the Imperial Age is necessary, and if you do it you’ll just spend more
time clicking on needless upgrades. It could have been so much better, but as
it is it’s just an expensive waste of time. Especially when you finally do
beat the computer and realise that you could have killed off their base with
one mortar and ten dragoons.
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______________________________V1.1 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Derrick Herman <darkrole05@yahoo.com>
"whether its in multi-player or just against the stupid comps using capital
building in the imperial age pays BIG TIME as it gives you the blockade
upgrade that cuts-off all enemies from recieving shipments from thier home
cities. the spy ability they also provide pays even more as it lets you see
everything they see which helps to pick major gaps to pretty much stick a 5
foot thorn in thier side as it’ll eliminate thier ability to launch suprise
attacks and show you every one of thier gaps. This also gives you the ability
to cut down thier supplies and send them packing by showing you all of their
supply zones, gather points, whatever you want to call it."
"For any map where water is a must the imperial age can help as it gives you
upgrades for your ships but can be costly to just go for upgrades, like you
said, but i think it pays from the capitol building."
—
Yep, all of the above is appreciated, and in multiplayer it will surely come
in handy. But, as I said, when playing against the computer, especially in the
campaign, nothing in the Imperial Age is necessary.
Cutting off Home City supplies to your enemy is surely useful, but you’ll
expend a lot of resources to do it, and are they really so powerful with
shipments that this will be the difference between beating them and getting
beaten?
The spying thing is pretty worthless if you’ve played a campaign map before,
since you know where all the buildings are, and you also know what units the
computer will be sending against you and the precise areas they will be
attacking at. The computer doesn’t know the meaning of surprise attacks –
every one of them can be predicted, or this wouldn’t be much of a guide 😛
In the few campaign maps where water plays a big part the Imperial Age is
either still totally unnecessary or unavailable anyway. Water isn’t a big
feature of the single player campaign, and if you really need to get to the
Imperial Age to win the maps where it does play a part, you’re surely doing
something wrong.
The Imperial Age has its good points, of course, but it’s still a total
luxury. I can see myself using it in multiplayer, since my opponents certainly
will; but in the campaign… nope. It’s too expensive and it’s complete
overkill. You just don’t need it.
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______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Guy Becker <primas_4@yahoo.com>
"You write that the "Imperial Age is just a luxury."
You make an excellent point by saying that all units can be created before the
Imperial Age.
However, it has been my experience that every possible "upgrade" for any and
all units is highly valuable. Units can add a significant portion of health
and damage by research, which means less resources to build them later. Please
also consider that while they die less often because they’re stronger, it
means that more of them stay alive to do more damage in a smaller amount of
time. This means that even more of them are saved because they have less time
to die. I hope this makes sense.
I’d like to add that a strong military should always be funded by a strong
economy.
I thought very highly of the creators for decreasing research time, and I
think that particular gain is put to good use.
I couldn’t go without "Spies": the ability to see the enemy’s movements before
they gain momentum. I’ve lost many a colony from "suprise attacks". Knowledge,
in this sense, is power. Another writer makes an excellent point that noting
vulnerabilities is especially useful. You also make the excellent point that
uncovering the map provides experience; this goes a long way in that regard.
You also note that Shipments are very useful. It is an excellent advantage to
take from the enemy."
—
People seem to forget that this guide is for the single player campaign. The
Imperial Age may be very useful in multiplayer, but it is definitely NOT
NEEDED offline. I’m not saying it’s no good, I’m saying it’s just not needed.
It’s a waste of time against a computer enemy who is dumb as a tree at the
best of times. In a game where two falconets and a bunch of dragoons can own
an entire enemy base, spending all that money and time on an upgrade like the
Imperial Age is laughable. To conclude: online, yes; offline, no.
Now, please, no more emails about how wonderful the Imperial Age is…
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ENEMIES (COMPUTER)
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Mostly, your computer enemies suck. And the thing that they suck is arse.
Their strategy is that classically stupid standard of all RTS games: build
units and send them at the nearest hostile building. If you can get some
towers and falconets in place quickly enough, and a fort or two if possible,
you need never worry about defense for the remainder of the level.
Since the enemy sends out bunches of units and then takes time to build
another bunch before attacking again, the optimum time for you to attack their
base is when they have no military units of their own. This means that you
should counter-attack as soon as your own defenses have killed off the latest
of the enemy’s attacks. The enemy base will be badly protected and unguarded,
and your army will meet much less resistance on the way in.
Another thing about your enemies is that their bases are generally crap. A
mass of red dots on the minimap might look intimidating, but mostly what
you’re seeing there is buildings, not troops and fortifications. There will
usually be three or four towers scattered around, and a fort if you’re really
unlucky. Once the towers and town centre are gone no enemy base can stand up
to an attack from a decent-sized army. Don’t be intimidated by enemy bases –
they’re nowhere near as tough as you think.
The computer only targets your walls if there is no way through or past them.
This means that you can use walls to channel your enemies into areas where you
can focus a concentrated attack on them. Instead of building seven towers
ranged along an outer wall, build four towers in one spot and build walls
around every other part of your base. You will then always know where your
enemies are going to be, and a couple of falconets behind your towers gives
you total safety.
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1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
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Please view this guide in a text viewer / editor with a set fixed-width
font, or else it might look a mess. I use Courier New, Size 10.
Use the Find command (CTRL + F) with the numbered contents menu at the start
of the guide, in order to quickly jump to the section you want.
I have put the main walkthrough section of the guide towards the end, after
all the other game information. This is not a design flaw – it’s deliberate.
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1.3 CONTACT ME
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I always appreciate feedback for any of my guides, so if you want to send
strategies, thanks, blame, criticism or applause feel free to mail me your
comments. I consider all suggestions (and playtest them if possible) and I
often revise and rewrite based purely on reader contributions. All feedback is
welcome, unless it’s to tell me I suck.
Please consider the following before mailing me:
– Check whether your suggestions or questions are already covered in the
guide.
– Check whether there is a more recent version of the guide available – I
revise and update a lot after a first release.
– To email me, please send your message to ‘utuselessut@hotmail.com’ and put
‘AOE3 guide’ and the guide version number in the subject line.
– I don’t edit contributor emails (unless they’re obscene), so please make
sure you won’t mind seeing what you’ve written appearing in a future version
of the guide, spelling mistakes and all.
– Let me know in your mail whether or not you want your name and email address
to be included with your contribution – if you don’t specify then I’ll assume
you want it included.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
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2. WALKTHROUGH
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This section will take you through each episode of the game’s three Acts. I’ve
included the experience points I had gained by the end of each level, and the
cards I chose to put in the Home City. My choices are based on my playing
style, but you’ll get different experience and therefore will choose different
cards.
Sorry about the lack of storyline, but as I mentioned before I haven’t a clue
what’s going on…
Good luck.
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2.1 ACT I: BLOOD
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2.1.1 BREAKOUT
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"In the late sixteenth century, the Knights of St. John defended their last
stronghold on the Mediterranean island of Malta from an Ottoman invasion."
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DEFEND THE FORT COMMAND POST
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PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DEFEND THE FORT COMMAND POST
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
COLLECT ALL THE TREASURES ON THE MAP (300 XP)
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Keep building units and attacking the enemies outside your gates; and the only
real problems you’ll come up against are the bombards.
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First of all, drag your men inside the walls and close the gate, and split
them into two groups: one of crossbowmen (buy the upgrade from the barracks)
and the other of everyone else. You have tons of resources so just get all
your barracks to pick the same rally point then just keep building mostly
crossbowmen and a few pikemen. Don’t be put off by the number of enemy units
– your walls and gate are very tough, and you have the two fort towers to dole
out a lot of damage.
You might want to upgrade that lone tower to the south, but it will always
fall eventually anyway. I brought a peasant down from the north to build four
more outpost towers inside the gates – this made things much easier.
Your peasants are fine where they are in the north, but you might want to put
a few more on gold. You may also want to go for that sec. objective. Pick a
peasant and target him / her on one of the marked treasures, then get a second
peasant on the second treasure, etc. This objective’s effect is minimal, but
do it for the sake of it.
Try to keep at least twenty crossbowmen and twenty pikemen, at least until the
first bombard arrives, and keep replacing any lost units (don’t bother with
the rodeleros). When the cavalry start coming at you, follow the game’s advice
and send your pikemen out to kill them. Then pull them back inside and use
your crossbowmen until more cavalry appear.
When the bombard comes you have a new problem and a new objective.
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PO: USE SETTLERS TO GATHER THE WOOD ON THE HILL TO LIGHT THE SIGNAL FIRE
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______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
john SMITH <westmidlands1@hotmail.co.uk>
"when the large cannon appears i send my pikemen out to sort ..they destroy it
but i dont get any new message about new objective as in light the fire…..im
repelling the attacks to the point where ive exhausted my resources its then i
get a small window appear from morgan saying light the fire but this is well
after ive destroyed the cannon…by then resources are that low i cant repell
attacks and all ends…..any advice pls… "
—
The objective doesn’t necessarily appear right after the cannon falls, so it’s
just a case of holding out until you get the objective message. It’s timed
from the start of the level, I believe, which means it’s independent of the
cannon’s appearance.
If you’re losing too many units then you’re not controlling them right.
Concentrate on repairing your fortifications every chance you get, and
building more and more crossbowmen – pikemen are only there to take care of
the cannons when they infrequently appear. Your peasants should be bringing in
mostly resources which help you build crossbowmen, so if you end up with far
too much of a resource you’re not using you might as well get those peasants
working on something else.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.3 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Carmine Arpaia <carmine@pimlicogroup.com>
"Hi…I read your faq on AOE III and have what I’m sure you’ll regard as
really dumb questions, but …here goes…
1. In Breakout…I destroy the first great bombard cannon, but after well over
an hour I never see any other cannons, and game just keeps on going and going,
til I run out of resources (and i get bored to tears) Obviously I never get
the message to light the signal fire…can you help?
also..at the barracks, in Breakout, I cant upgrade my crossbowman and
pikeman…. program glitch? or am I just too stupid to live?"
—
Having replayed this mission to check this, I’ve found that the second PO
sometimes appears before the cannon does, which is a bit odd. This mission
seems to be buggy and that’s all there is to it. Restart and try again.
As for the upgrades, they are underneath the unit selection buttons. I don’t
know why you can’t see them, but bear in mind that if you choose the pikeman
upgrade (for example) from one of the barracks that upgrade option will
disappear from the other three barracks, since the game knows it’s already
being built.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Grab a huge handful of your peasants – the more the better – and send them to
the north west, where they can start gathering the piles of wood (just right-
click them on the woodpiles in the revealed area). Once it’s all gone they’ll
light the fire, and you’ll have to wait a tense thirty seconds or so before
Alain’s cavalry appear in the north and head to the fort.
Do not let that first bombard cannon destroy your gate – run out and batter at
it as soon as you see it approaching.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE GREAT BOMBARDS
¬==¬
More will appear soon after you take out the first one, but Alain and his
imperial hussars will have made it to your base and will be waiting at the
north wall. Send them charging out heroically to smash the cannons fast, and
with the demise of the last of them you are victorious.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 2
XP: 7400
CARDS
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N/A
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
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2.1.2 INTO THE CAVES
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"As Sahin is driven from Malta, Morgan and his men regroup and prepare to push
the surviving Ottomans from their camps."
¬==¬
FIND THE OTTOMAN BASE AND DESTROY THEIR WEAPONS CACHES
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DEFEND THE BASE FROM THE OTTOMAN ATTACK
¬==¬
An early assault can make this level yours in record time – just keep your
bombard cannon healthy and the reinforcements coming from the barracks.
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Eliminate the Ottomans (Ottomen?) using your bombard and the towers. Try to
stick close to the field hospital for healing. With the Ottomans gone you’ll
get some proper objectives.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE OTTOMAN WEAPONS CACHES
SO: BUILD AN ARTILLERY FOUNDRY AND TRAIN AT LEAST 10 HOOP THROWERS (500 XP)
¬==¬
There are eight caches, most of which are in the north east caves. But before
you do that you’ll want to build your first ever real base, and also claim
that treasure you can see north of your base. Send some combat units up there
and kill off the two wolves to get another objective.
¬==¬
SO: CLAIM THE NEARBY TREASURE (300 XP)
¬==¬
Get Morgan to claim it to get the points.
Speaking of which, you begin with ten peasants, but you’ll want to train more
to hurry things along. I went with ten for food, ten for wood and ten for
coin, and used any random peasant to build the few buildings I needed, bearing
in mind that I had two barracks already.
Now for an early attack which will win you the level with ease. Send your
bombard east, accompanied by all your surviving military units and your
priest, and build some more crossbowmen and pikemen from the two barracks
while your peasants are starting to bring in the resources.
You might meet a tiny squadron of reds on the way east, so wipe them out and
keep going until you find the arsenal. Use the bombard to destroy it while
your other units protect the cannon. Beyond the arsenal you should find a town
centre and barracks, plus a prison to the north. Destroy the prison to free
the pikemen, and get them to help you clear away the red units beside the two
buildings.
When you attack the town centre your enemies will ring the town bell, so make
sure your bombard is not within range of the town centre’s fire. With those
two buildings gone the Ottomans are crippled, so head east and south to get
rid of the remaining buildings, as well as to pick up more prisoners and
another treasure item.
You should have been building more crossbowmen and pikemen, so send them over
to join your army and take everyone north. You will find a couple of towers,
another barracks (probably), mills farther north past the cave mouth, and that
northern weapons cache beside a third prison. There’s nothing tough up here,
though there will probably be a few more Ottoman military units. By now your
army should be pretty large, and the Ottomans have no town centre and little
else outside the caves. Destroy the first weapons cache, park everyone outside
the cave mouth, and get Morgan to run around picking up any remaining treasure
items.
For that mystery secondary objective, build a caravel and stick Morgan and a
peasant on it. Send the boat east until you find the tiny island and the
objective.
¬==¬
SO: FIND A SHIPWRECK AND GATHER ANY SUPPLIES NEAR IT (300 XP)
¬==¬
Kill off the guardians with Morgan and your caravel (use Morgan’s special
attack), and don’t forget to pick up the lovely Boots of El Pollo Guapo, which
increase their user’s movement speed by 25%. I gave them to Morgan as the
slower of the two heroes.
Now head back to the cave entrance and go inside. There’s nothing dangerous in
here, so advance your vast army north to find the next two caches, east for
another two, then south east for the last three. The last three caches are
guarded by a second red town centre and a big bunch of stationary units, but
your bombard and legions can make short work of them.
Try not to destroy the caches yet – there’s a mosque farther south which can
be destroyed for 500 XP, and some red ships guarding their dock. I wiped them
out with mortars and my bombard. You could have sneaked some peasants in here
earlier to pick up all those supplies, but it’s not really necessary.
Killing off the last three caches opens a new route through the caves and
hands you victory.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 4
XP: 20246
CARDS
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N/A
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
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2.1.3 PIRATES!
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"Seeking to beat the Ottomans to the mysterious Lake of the Moon, Morgan sails
for the New World… but is forced to make an unexpected stop."
¬==¬
SAIL TO THE NEW WORLD
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
BUILD A TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
Unlike in the previous mission, this one is easier if you take your time. You
can use towers and free ships to erase the pirates’ navy and docks; then it’s
just a case of building up a land army bigger than theirs.
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Move your wagon up to between the tapirs and the silver and build your town
centre south of the trees, away from the beaches. Make sure the St. Elmo
flagship doesn’t get attacked and sunk while you’re busy.
¬==¬
PO: BUILD A BARRACKS AND A DOCK
¬==¬
Do this while your combat units erase all the enemies from this island,
including the jaguars in the west. A peasant can then go in to retrieve a tame
jaguar called Janey, as you do. There are also crates to collect on the beach,
and a red house to destroy on the southern cliffs, behind which are more
resources.
Start building your base up, and put your dock at the top of the east coast.
Make damn sure you repair and keep Morgan’s flagship while you’re at it
(select it and right-click on the dock). Build all seven towers at the extreme
points along the coast – you definitely want one at the westernmost point,
overlooking the little island; another one on the long beach at the west,
where you should build another dock later; and another two on the curved
prongs overlooking the little bay at the south of your island. Upgrade the
towers fully when you can afford it.
¬==¬
PO: FIND AND COLLECT THREE NAVIGATION CHARTS
¬==¬
You get this objective once your barracks and dock are built, and you can see
the marked area to the south east. Another nice bonus is the free ship you’ll
get from Malta, soon after you build your dock and barracks. This will keep
happening occasionally, and some will drop free land units on the beach.
You will periodically come under attack from pirate ships from the west, but
your towers can fend them off, and you’ll keep getting those lovely free ships
to build your navy up with. You don’t need to build your own ships, and just
let your towers bear the brunt of the pirates’ attacks.
Send some ships down south east to scout out the area of the next objective.
You can take out the buccaneers easily from the water, and around about now
you should reach enough resources to be able to advance to the Fortress Age (I
went with Admiral of the Ocean Sea for the caravel and wood).
Don’t get ambitious and start exploring the seas with your three or four
galleons – you’ll get owned. Just advance your town slowly and surely, then
stick all your combat units and a peasant on one of your caravels and go over
and get the first navigation chart from the north of the two little islands.
There are also two treasure items (make sure all guardians are dead), one of
which will get you another objective.
¬==¬
SO: BUILD A SECOND TOWN CENTRE (200 XP)
¬==¬
Don’t build your second town on this north island – instead send everyone over
to the neighbouring island, clear the place out of Native Americans, outlaws
and jaguars, and collect the three treasure items. Now stick everyone back on
the caravel and send them back to your main island.
Hang around forever, upgrading everything you see and waiting until you’ve
been handed six or seven free ships. Now send them north (your towers should
have destroyed a lot of the pirates’ fleet up here by now) and get them to
kill the treasure guardians and peasants on that tiny island at the edge of
the map. Next send them south to the tip of the big island, and get them to
wipe out the two docks (one of them is round to the west). Park your ships
here from now on, and they will prevent the pirates from building new docks.
You still need a standing army to assault the pirates’ base with, so start
building an army of over fifty strong. You’ll want three or four mortars and a
couple of priests, but fill your troops out mainly with hoop throwers,
crossbowmen and lancers. Send them all down to the bottom of the pirates’
island at once on caravels, and unload them on the beach.
Pick up the treasure to the west, and the second covered wagon, then build one
or two unit production buildings. You don’t need anything big here, and you
can just use your army as it is, without bothering with a new town (check
whether the extra ships you’ve been receiving have dropped off any new land
units on the beach – I had some hoop throwers and a mortar). Launch a quick
attack on the few pirates to the north east, and recover the second chart once
they’re dead.
With that mini-base cleared away you now have more space to build, so put up
one of each building on your new island if you’re not confident that you can
kill off the pirates with the army you have; and build up a decent army to
assault the remains of the pirates’ base. There’s not much in there, and you
can let them empty their base at your new town by attacking their gate and
outpost with mortars.
Once you see very few or no units in that revealed circle, run your army
through the ruined gate and start hitting the buildings. Use mortars to wipe
out the towers and barracks, then everything else can be erased with ease.
Once you’ve tied up everything else in the map, pick up the third and last
navigation chart from the pirates’ main island.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 5
XP: 38326
CARDS
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N/A
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
2.1.4 THE OTTOMAN FORT
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"Morgan catches up with Sahin in the jungles of Central America – but are the
Ottomans too powerful to defeat?"
¬==¬
FIND AND DESTROY THE OTTOMAN COMMAND POST AND TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
BUILD A TOWN CENTRE
¬==¬
This level has an obvious bottleneck, so defend that and take control of the
three trading posts and you’re laughing.
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Explore the surrounding area and discover the sites for trading posts, while
you plant your town centre at the north end of the beach. The ship you arrived
on is now almost useless, though it is possible to defeat the two red ships to
the south with just that one ship. If you lose it’s no big deal, and if you
win you can then sink the ships anyway, since it’s just taking up room in your
population.
Once your centre is up you get a new objective.
¬==¬
PO: GO TO THE HOME CITY AND SEND A SHIPMENT
¬==¬
I went with the settlers and food. Once they arrive, another objective.
¬==¬
PO: FIND AND ALLY WITH AT LEAST TWO LOCAL NATIVES
¬==¬
Get Morgan to build a trading post in the village to the south, and in the
other one to the west.
¬==¬
PO: FIND AND DESTROY THE OTTOMAN COMMAND POST AND TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
Research everything from the Caribbean and Mayan trading posts while you
slowly build up your town (pick the Native American Lore card from the Home
City before you buy these upgrades). Explore the area further and find the
treasure items to the north and to the south east. Farther south east is a red
dock and a new objective.
¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE OTTOMAN FISHING DOCK (500 XP)
¬==¬
Do this now with your flagship – land units may come under attack. Speaking
of ships, there are whales in the sea which your fishing boats can get gold
from.
You will soon be able to advance to the Fortress Age – I went with Sergeant At
Arms, as this is not really a naval sort of level. Keep exploring and you’ll
find that you’re irresistibly led south, where there is another village and
two more treasure items.
It’s important to take and defend this third village trading post, as the
Ottomans will certainly try to do so too. Train up a decent-sized army, and
try to get a wagon from the Home City, so you can site a second town down
there to stop the Ottomans from getting to it. Once your army gets rid of the
main Ottoman army they won’t have much left.
It’s a good idea to time your relocation to coincide with the Ottomans’
attempt to go for that southern silver mine, since the Ottomans will keep
sending settlers out of their base from then on, allowing your ranged units
and outposts to mop them up easily. Be very sure to buy the excellent upgrades
from the Aztec trading post too.
To attack the Ottoman outpost you can either take out the two towers and the
gate with mortars and then charge in, or you can go around to the west, past
the southern tower, and work your way around past the treasure item to find a
mosque tucked into the north corner of their base.
Whatever you do you should have no difficulty in getting rid of the Ottomans,
especially if you’ve let them empty more and more peasants through their gates
to try to get to that silver.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
After you complete this mission you finally get to customise your Home City,
as well as choose the cards which will become available in future missions.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 6
XP: 50760
CARDS
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NEW WORLD TRADING COMPANY – 4 SETTLERS, CRATES OF 600 FOOD
THE KNIGHTS’ GARRISON – 2 FALCONETS, 1 MORTAR
THE GRAND MAGISTERY – ROYAL DECREE TO CLAIM THE NEW WORLD
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
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2.1.5 TEMPLES OF THE AZTEC
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"With the Ottomans defeated in the New World, Morgan and his men head into the
jungle, seeking the location of the Lake of the Moon from the Aztecs – only to
encounter new enemies."
¬==¬
PROTECT THE AZTEC TEMPLES
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
BUILD A TRADING POST AT THE AZTEC VILLAGE
¬==¬
It’s frustrating that you have to keep constantly swapping between defense and
development here; but easier if you free the prisoners to build up your army.
Make sure your units are divided into numbered groups and focus most of your
defense on the two temples closest to each other, at the east of the village.
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Ignore the objectives for now: instead send your guys east to free the first
lot of eagle warriors, who then show you the locations of all the other
prisoners around the map.
¬==¬
SO: RESCUE MORE AZTEC PRISONERS (300 XP)
¬==¬
Build a trading post in the village, then head north west to the first lot,
picking up the treasure and destroying the reds and the barracks while you’re
at it. This gives you more eagle warriors, and you can also research the
upgrades from the trading post before building more Native warriors to add to
your army.
When the trading post is built you get a covered wagon, a caravel and some
peasants. Don’t open the wagon yet, but you can start collecting resources.
Get started on the mine and trees to the east while your army continues north
from that red barracks.
¬==¬
PO: BUILD A TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
You should find more treasure, then two Huaminca warriors in the northern
alley, and another bunch of prisoners to the east. Don’t go for the treasure
up to the north – it’s too close to the Spanish base. Head south, through the
middle of the map, and east to get the prisoners beside the red house. South
of here are more prisoners guarded by horsed units. Head south again, over the
river, and west to find the last group of prisoners. Take out the goons first,
then the tower, and with this last group of eagle warriors freed it’s time to
get on with the level.
Don’t build it yet – instead max out the warriors from the trading post. Then
move every combat unit you have up to the north east temple. Move the covered
wagon down to the north of the little river crossing, then build a mill nearby
with your seven peasants. Once your settlers are farming open your town centre
up.
¬==¬
PO: AT LEAST ONE AZTEC TEMPLE MUST REMAIN STANDING
¬==¬
You should now have four or five shipments lined up, so start shipping in
military units and resources, while you build peasants from the town centre.
The first major attack will immediately come from the north east, and you must
fend it off with every unit you have, including destroying the fort wagon
which will turn into a fort if you don’t take it down first. This is why you
should have everyone at the east of the north east temple – to block the
cart’s way. Then you get ANOTHER sodding objective.
¬==¬
SO: SAVE MORE THAN ONE TEMPLE
¬==¬
Keep an eye on the timer at the top of the screen while you work towards
building and upgrading your army. Use your multiple Home City shipments to
bring in as many peasants as you can (I had six shipments, which got me
fourteen peasants), and build another ten or so to go with them. You need
resources fast and constantly to replace units, build buildings and get into
the Fortress Age.
The Aztec temples are tough, but the Aztecs themselves aren’t great at moving
to engage the enemy. The only units the Spanish will send that can really do
the temples big damage are the falconets (and later one or two heavy cannons),
and they only send these once in a while; but of more concern are the large
numbers of Spanish horses and foot soldiers appearing from north east and
north west. They will sometimes target your buildings and peasants, so if you
see them approaching your town centre just ring the town bell until your army
can get back to support. Use that caravel too – it can target enemies from the
water and will often save your arse.
Build a barracks in the Aztec village and keep producing crossbowmen and
rodeleros. Keep all combat units you have in the middle of the village, so
that your army can respond quickly to the various red attacks (rodeleros are
fast and they don’t require wood, which is good because there’s not much
around).
Getting into the Fortress Age quickly is a good move too, because you can
bring in the excellent falconets from your Home City.
Once the counter reaches 0:00 (hopefully you managed to save two of the
temples), you get masses of reinforcements and a new objective.
¬==¬
PO: FIND AND DESTROY THE SPANISH TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
That really is a hell of a reinforcement you just got handed, so park all your
units just east of the eastern temple, then work towards upgrading to the
Fortress Age. There’s not much point trying to build a huge army to assault
the Spanish with – you’ve just been given one. Build a foundry and some
mortars, and ship another one in from the Home City.
The Spanish base has two gates, and if you take either gate down the Aztecs
will start running into the red base to attack on their own, which serves as a
good decoy for you. The Spanish won’t be going for the temples any more, which
means that your ranged units can sit south of their eastern gate and mop up
anything the Spanish send out. Buy upgrades, heal your units, and attack.
Get mortars to bash down the towers while you steamroll your massive army in
and delete the town centre.
I’ve experienced a bug in this level, where I destroyed the town centre and
completed every other objective, but the level wouldn’t end because my own
town centre was under attack when the Spanish one fell. Make sure you save
before attacking the red base, unless you like starting again…
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 6
XP: 63788
CARDS
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N/A
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
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2.1.6 A PIRATE’S HELP
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"Morgan heads for Florida, hoping to beat the Spanish to the Lake of the Moon,
but a hurricane drives his ships off course, forcing him to land in Cuba."
¬==¬
IMPRESS LIZZIE TO GET A RIDE TO FLORIDA
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
GAIN 8000 EXPERIENCE BEFORE LIZZIE SAILS TO FLORIDA
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
STOP THE RAIDING NATIVE AMERICANS FROM ATTACKING THE SETTLERS OF HAVANA
(300 XP)
¬==¬
Move quickly in this one, as there’s a timer on it. You have to make sure you
build up lots of cheap units fast, and replace any that die. If you do that
you should have no trouble, especially when you get to the point where you can
go for the easiest objectives.
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Take all your starting units and head west, in time to stop the blowgunners
from killing too many of your future peasants. Kill the last of the Natives
and you get your base and two objectives.
¬==¬
SO: REOPEN TRADE WITH THE REST OF CUBA BY BUILDING A SECOND TRADING POST
(800 XP)
SO: BUILD THE FIRST STABLE IN HAVANA (500 XP)
¬==¬
Since the idea is to gain experience you probably want to do these, and fast.
But first you’ll have to build a few more peasants (there are farmers at the
mills, and miners and lumberjacks to the north), and build that stable for the
experience (your points are gradually going down while you’re not doing
anything).
You could also take your combat units south to get that treasure item at the
west edge of the map, though not before they’ve defended the base against the
first lot of elite blowgunners heading their way.
Upgrade from the market you’ve been given, and start building an army while
you protect your base. Don’t underestimate the size of the guard force at the
trading post, but don’t hang around for too long either. You should be able to
field an army of about thirty units and send them to clear the trading post
out. Build a post there with Morgan as soon as possible, as it will start
generating experience points for you.
With this done you should have managed to get over 4000 XP, at which point you
get a new objective from Lizzie.
¬==¬
SO: TAKE LIZZIE’S NATIVE AMERICAN FRIEND TO HIS FAMILY ON THE NEARBY ISLAND
(1000 XP)
¬==¬
You can’t build docks, so you’ll need to find the gimp’s canoe. It’s over to
the east of the trading post, but collect the two treasures nearby first. If
you hug the south edge of the map as you head east to the beach you will also
find some livestock and another objective.
¬==¬
SO: RETURN THE LOST HERD TO HAVANA’S LIVESTOCK PEN (750 XP)
¬==¬
Ignore them or send them back, and send your army east to find more Natives
standing on the beach. They’re tough if you’ve just fought the bunch around
the trading post, so you might want to fill out your army again before you
engage them. The Natives will keep dropping blowgunners off in canoes
throughout this level, and it’s just a matter of timing if you meet a big
bunch here or not – if not then there’s probably a load of them headed to your
town centre, so be prepared to ring the bell. Anyway, once any reds around
this beach are dead Lizzie’s friend’s canoe sails over and comes under your
control.
Send it south along the beach while you station your ranged units on the sand,
ready to pick off any Natives’ canoes chasing it. If there are none, bring
Lizzie’s boy to the canoe, or bring it to him, and send him east across the
sea and into the village on the island.
Once he arrives you get another objective and some free units.
¬==¬
SO: RETRIEVE STOLEN ARTIFACT (1500 XP)
¬==¬
By this point I had over 7000 XP, so if you do too you might want to just
return the livestock to your livestock pen and be done with this toss. If not,
send those free combat units south and fight the Natives in their camp. There
are a couple of falconets to the east, which will probably succeed in wiping
out the last of this bunch of soldiers, so you might want to send some more
over on the canoes to finish them off. Then just grab the gold from the
artifact with Morgan.
If you can’t be bothered with that, or you still don’t have enough XP
afterwards, or if you get owned, you could try the last objective for those
points. Send your army west of the trading post this time, and find more
Natives guarding some gold.
¬==¬
SO: FIND AND GATHER THE STOLEN GOLD (900 XP)
¬==¬
Nothing hard here – just delete the reds and send peasants in to grab the
moolah.
You really must have reached 8000 by now: if not you suck. Once you reach 8000
you just have to send Morgan back to Lizzie to complete the mission.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 7
XP: 78414
CARDS
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NEW WORLD TRADING COMPANY – CHESTS OF 300 COIN
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2.1.7 SPANISH TREASURE FLEET
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"Morgan sails for Florida with the pirate Lizzie, hoping to catch up with the
Spanish conquistador Delgado before he reaches the Lake of the Moon."
¬==¬
CAPTURE THE SPANISH TREASURE FLEET
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
CAPTURE THE SPANISH TREASURE SHIP
¬==¬
This mission is a stroll if you don’t automatically build your base the second
you hit land. Always be sneaky in computer games: that’s my motto. It used to
be "never trust a eunuch", but that was just the testicles talking.
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Immediately move your three ships north, away from the Spanish ships. Find the
prison camp on the beach due north, smash down the walls of the camp with your
ships’ guns to release the prisoners, then pull your ships out of range of the
tower while your new Incan Huamincas kill the wolves and destroy the tower.
¬==¬
PO: PLACE A TOWN CENTER TO ESTABLISH YOUR BASE
¬==¬
With this objective you also get your first treasure ship: you can’t move it
so just leave it alone while the gold filters in. The Spanish can’t recapture
it.
Anyway, offload the units onto the beach from your ships, and explore the area
north and south. There are good open spaces in both directions at which to
site your base, but the northern one is probably better, since it’s farther
away from the red base and the coast.
Forget about building a town centre for now: instead take all your units
north, free the guy up the tree, and free the prisoners farther north, guarded
by dogs. The prisoners show you the locations of the rest of the treasure
ships.
Before you think about building a base, you’ll want as many of the treasure
ships as possible. You could start a base now and do it the very hard way, but
I don’t really fancy it. Good luck though.
Separate your troops into groups, with the mortar in its own group, and the
wagon in its own too. Take them west to the nearest ship and get your mortar
to destroy the outpost. Some Spanish might react, but you have plenty of
soldiers to fend them off with. With the tower down you get control of the
ship.
Take everyone farther west until you are due east of the fort. When you see it
you get another objective.
¬==¬
SO: DESTROY ANY SPANISH FORTS (300 XP EACH)
¬==¬
Start hitting the fort with your mortar again. This time a lot of Spanish will
come to attack you, but your falconet and soldiers should win easily, so long
as you stay away from the fort. Eventually your mortar will destroy the fort
and gain this third ship, at which point you can leave. When the fort falls
you get another objective.
¬==¬
SO: KILL DELGADO (1000 XP)
¬==¬
Head north east again, back to where you rescued the second batch of
prisoners. Now take everyone slowly west along the north edge of the map. You
will run into another tower, and when your mortar attacks it some Spanish will
come at you with a falconet. Target the falconet with your own and get rid of
the soldiers. Head farther west, through the gap in the walls, until you meet
another tower to the south and a barracks and prison to the north.
Open the prison first and kill its canine guards; then knock down the tower
and barracks, still fending off more Spanish. You should still have plenty of
soldiers, and your wagon should be kept at the rear of each battle, though
still close to your other troops.
With these buildings gone you can head farther west to the next tower, which
is guarding the fourth ship. Destroy it, claim the ship, move south west
again. Take out the next tower and kill off any stray Spanish, and you should
now have five ships, one hell of a lot of gold, and not even a snifter of a
town in the area.
Though you haven’t been told yet, the idea is to capture six ships to win the
level – and to get five without placing a building is pretty good going,
especially from a gold point of view. At this point it’s up to you whether you
want to start building a town away in the east, or if you want to try to get
that sixth ship.
If you want to get the sixth ship and leave, here’s how. Take your units all
the way over to the east coast and put them on the ships. Now send your ships
all the way around the south curve of the sea, and drop your land units off on
the tiny island where the westernmost ship is, guarded by a tower. Your ships
will be taking heavy fire, but if you can knock out the tower with your land
units before everyone dies it won’t matter. With that sixth ship captured you
win the level.
If you want to build up a base and attack Delgado by land, just choose a
likely spot with plenty of space (gold is not a problem), and make sure you
have a few towers and falconets about for base defense.
¬==¬
PO: CAPTURE SIX TOTAL TREASURE SHIPS
¬==¬
I suggest building a large army, since the red base has a lot of units and
buildings. I went with four mortars, four falconets, and loads of shipped
units, crossbowmen and pikemen. Upgrade everything and fill out at least a
population of 110 (including twenty or so peasants).
Instead of just charging into Delgado’s base, destroy the second fort
beforehand. It’s in the south, surrounded by walls, but it’s lightly guarded
and your mortars can delete it easily if you keep everyone else around them
for protection.
This area is a good place from which to attack the main base, so send everyone
north west over the swamp and start hitting those buildings with the mortars.
It’s not hard, and the only difficulty comes in avoiding destroying any of the
towers before you kill Delgado, since getting the sixth ship wins the level.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 8
XP: 93923
CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬
NEW WORLD TRADING COMPANY – CHESTS OF 600 COIN
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2.1.8 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH?
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"Morgan, Lizzie and Sahin press on to the Lake of the Moon. Has Alain betrayed
the Knights of St. John?"
¬==¬
DESTROY THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DESTROY THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
¬==¬
Yup, he has, and he has a pretty impressive base from which to do it. This
level is shaped like a wreath wrapped around a lake, with the Fountain of
Youth sitting in the middle. Once you get past the initial onslaught and get
your base started, you will probably find it nice and easy.
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Don’t move your fire ships: just send all your starting units up the hill to
the east.
¬==¬
PO: KILL THE GUARDS NEAR THE FIXED GUN
¬==¬
The cannon will fire at your guys as you approach, doing big damage, so get up
there fast and kill the guards. You then get control of the gun and your
covered wagon arrives.
¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE CIRCLE’S BASE TO THE EAST OF THE FIXED GUN
¬==¬
Plant your town centre west of the orange walls, against the edge of the map.
Start shipping in military units (mortar and falconets if you have them) and
building peasants to get resourcing. Build the usual numbers of peasants and
get them to resource to the west, where it’s safe.
Begin using your new gun to clear out the nearest of the orange buildings, and
meanwhile get building one or two galleons from the dock. Make sure your gun
gets the two orange towers within its reach, and move the rest of your army to
just outside the gates until your gun has done most of the work on the
westernmost buildings.
While your gun is hammering on the orange base you have to bring any ships you
have to the little beach just south west of the gun – this is where all your
ships (except one fire ship – the Spanish will sometimes attack your lonely
dock, and it would be nice if you could immediately sink their ship with your
fire ship) should stay from now on, in order to protect your cannon and defend
that beach.
As your army proceeds to take down the orange base they will meet more
Boneguards and some Circle goons. The Boneguards will stop coming when you’re
nearly done taking down the orange base, but the reds will keep coming
periodically from the north.
At around the same time as you’re bringing down the orange buildings around
the Boneguard’s northern gate, the Circle will launch an attack from the west,
dropping lamers off on transports and sending them to try to grab the cannon
for themselves. If you’ve parked your ships where I told you to they should be
able to catch most of the red units running to the cannon, and you will have
pulled some of your land army back to the cannon when you got the warning
anyway. Even if they do get the cannon briefly, you just have to kill the reds
off to reclaim it.
Now take all your land units to the north end of the orange base and begin
bringing down the walls and gates. Get peasants up there fast and start
building unit production buildings and towers, since the reds will keep
attacking along that north pass. If you can keep your army sitting there and
soak up the first few red attacks while you build and develop your base and
army, you will be set for the rest of the level. Get some priests in for
healing, and get all the falconets you can from the Home City. Watch out for
Circle war wagons and the solitary fort wagon – take them down straight away
when you see them.
Your ships should be safe where they are, especially if you’ve built the
maximum number of galleons. Don’t bother building fire ships – you’ll be
getting them for free, and they’re not that effective against the Fountain
anyway. Just keep your ships stationary to protect the cannon, and build
another dock on that little beach, so that you can quickly heal any damaged
galleons. If any red ships approach the cannon and come too close for it to
return fire, use your own ships to take them out.
Your gun will be busy sinking most of the red ships on its own (check its
health and repair it if needed), and there is an extremely nice upgrade in the
church which will let it reach the ships at the far dock, parked next to the
Fountain. Researching Gas Lighting basically ends any hopes the Circular
armada may have had.
By the way, the Circle won’t attempt to retake the cannon until much later, so
don’t bother protecting the western approach to your base – your parked
galleons can handle it.
For base defense I went with three outpost towers at the north approach
(destroy the orange gates and walls, as they’re hindering you, not your
enemies), and just built and stationed my army behind the towers. This was
plenty to fend off every attack the Circle threw at me, though I did have to
keep healing occasionally. I also bunged two upgraded towers on the corner of
land north of my starting dock – they did me big, big favours versus the red
ships throughout the level.
Throughout the mission you will keep getting free fire ships: don’t send them
against the Fountain, send them against the red ships and the dock. Once you
have six or seven upgraded galleons send them all the way along your own beach
to the north east, exploring the area and killing off any enemy ships. As they
work their way around the shore they will find some Circle buildings near the
Fountain. Pull them away to the safety of the cannon, and try to bait the
Circle’s ships into following them. It’s important to try to kill off as many
of the ships around that dock as you can, in order to make your later land
assault easier.
There’s another thing: you can send some units (plus Morgan) on a transport
ship over to that section of land to the west of your base. There are some
treasure items here, as well as a trading post site.
¬==¬
SO: BUILD A TRADING POST AT THE NATIVE VILLAGE (300 XP)
¬==¬
I tend not to bother with this, as I don’t like splitting up my land units and
weakening my base defense. But if you do set up a trading post you can build
the excellent elite sharktooths, who can do some damage to the nearby ships,
towers and dock. There’s the added bonus that the max of fifteen Natives don’t
count towards your pop. limit, so you might feel that the trading post is
worth the effort.
Anyway, once your army is pretty much built, ship in a covered wagon from the
Home City and send it north along the stretch of land, accompanied by your
troops. Park everyone at the very top, beside the treasure hut, and start
building a mini-town – you don’t need much, just one or two towers and one of
each unit production building. This will be the launching site for your
assault on the Fountain.
Explore to the south and take out any red buildings with mortars (you’ll have
to get rid of the town centre before you can put down towers) while your
army deals with the units the Circle sends out to get rid of you. This is
really easy and is nothing you haven’t done before. You should manage
comfortably to erase everything outside the stone walls, and your mortars are
now free to launch an attack from the north beach on the Fountain, with your
galleons attacking from the south.
The Fountain will really start suffering with four mortars and seven galleons
hitting it, and the Circle will send out a few puny units (don’t bother trying
to attack the Circle’s base by the way – you will not survive). Stay away
from the walls and let the mortars and galleons work, and pretty soon the
Fountain will be almost dead.
At this point the Circle will launch a last attempt on the cannon, sending
Alain himself and some horsed goons all the way around the coast, through your
base and over to the cannon. If you’re attacking the Fountain like I did this
won’t matter – it will be down long before Alain reaches the cannon. But if
you’ve merely been picking away at it with fire ships and galleons, you will
definitely want to recapture the cannon before it decimates your entire fleet
and then starts on your base.
It’s probably a good idea to send every horsed unit you have back to base to
stand by the cannon as soon as your mortars start hitting the Fountain from
east of the Circle’s walls. Your ranged units and falconets can handle any red
units coming through their gates, and your horses can intercept and cut Alain
and his mob down before they get at the precious cannon.
Once the Fountain is finally gone you win the mission and the first Act of the
game.
=+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+
——————————–¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬—————————–
2.2 ACT II: ICE
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2.2.1 DEFEND THE COLONY
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"By the middle of the eighteenth century, many thriving colonies had been
founded in the New World. But European conflicts would soon explode in the
Americas…"
¬==¬
DEFEND YOUR COLONY AT ALL COSTS
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DEFEND THE TOWN CENTER FOR 15 MINUTES
¬==¬
This is a typical siege level, with lots of crap happening all at once. It’s
not an easy mission but you can actually do it without training any new units.
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Let your troops delete the first assault, then take them outside the walls.
Upgrade your towers right away, and start building peasants to chop lumber to
the north. Send your army west in preparation for your next objective.
¬==¬
SO: STOP THE CHEROKEE ATTACKERS FROM DESTROYING THE VILLAGE TO THE SOUTHWEST
(500 XP)
¬==¬
If you get the great cannon over in time you can stop them with ease, at which
point you get a load more peasants whom you can use to mine with. Start
upgrading at the market, and build a barracks, stable and foundry just inside
the circle of towers. Produce nothing but crossbowmen and falconets from now
on; though you should probably have a priest or two for healing.
¬==¬
SO: ESCORT THE REFUGEES BACK TO THE COLONY (300 XP EACH)
¬==¬
You’ll get this objective the first time a bunch of whimpering colonists
appears from a random spot in the south and begins high-tailing it to your
base. Run out and help them if you want, though they often make it on their
own, at which point they become militia for you to add to your army. It’s 300
XP per group of colonists – not per colonist – so if even one gets back safely
you get the points.
From now until the timer runs down it’s just a case of building tons of foot
soldiers and five or six falconets. Keep your towers in repair and keep
everyone together, lingering near the towers. When you spot the Cherokee
cannons take them down quickly with your own siege weapons, as they can do big
damage to your army.
You should be able to last fifteen minutes easily, as long as you don’t get
sucked around the map looking for treasures or ‘helping’ refugees. Don’t try
to go south to take out the Cherokee bases – they have tons of units, and
you’re not missing any wonderful treasures anyway.
When the timer runs out a bunch of jaeger appear and you win.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 10
XP: 120406
CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬
FANEUIL HALL – 4 SETTLERS, CRATES OF 600 FOOD
MILITARY ACADEMY – 2 FALCONETS, 2 MORTARS
CATHEDRAL – ADVANCED ARSENAL, FORT, ROYAL DECREE TO CLAIM THE NEW WORLD
HARBOR – HIRE GERMAN BLACK RIDERS, HIRE HOLY ROMAN ARMY
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2.2.2 STRANGE ALLIANCES
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
"With the Cherokee driven off, John and Kanyenke assemble their men in the
colony and prepare to counter-attack."
¬==¬
DEFEAT THE CHEROKEE WAR PARTIES AND NEGOTIATE PEACE
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DESTROY THE CHEROKEE WAR HUTS
¬==¬
This is as simple as this game gets, which isn’t to say it’s easy. You’re just
building an army and moving them forward, while making sure your own base
stays standing. The longer the level goes on the easier it gets, since the
British take a multiplicity of yonks to increase the size and frequency of
their attacks.
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Take everyone you have west in one big group. Pick up the treasure item, the
Shield of El Pollo Guapo, which increases a hero’s hitpoints by 30%. I gave
it to John, since he has more hitpoints and so will get more of a bonus.
Work your way around the perimeter of the map, picking up all the other
treasures; then head into the middle and wipe out the red units, all not very
many at all of them.
When you attack the huts they will spit out a few units, but nothing tough.
Get rid of the huts first, then the units (use your heroes as bait). When both
huts are gone you get a new objective.
¬==¬
PO: BRING JOHN AND KANYENKE TO THE MAIN CHEROKEE VILLAGE TO NEGOTIATE A PEACE
¬==¬
If you don’t smell an ambush here then you’ve never played a computer game
before. Unfortunately the British jump in and grab Stuart and some settlers
while you’re busy, and once you kill the four British in the huts you get two
new objectives.
¬==¬
PO: ESTABLISH A NEW COLONY AND DEFEAT THE BRITISH
SO: RESCUE ALL SETTLERS CAPTURED BY THE BRITISH (500 XP)
¬==¬
Take your wagon all the way to the south, where you found that weird cow. The
British are establishing their own base, and will soon be sending masses of
land units your way, whether you’re ready or not. Build your town as far away
as you can get, just to give yourself a bit more room – don’t bother building
near your free mill and houses.
This is where this level subsides into the realms of suckage, since all you’re
doing is trying to build enough units to be able to cope with the enemy’s
army. There’s not much strategy here – just concentrate on building and
shipping in units fast, rather than buying upgrades and building one of every
building. Get chopping lots of lumber too, so that you can build the maximum
number of towers around the north edge of your base; and if you can bring in a
fort wagon from the Home City that would greatly help.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
J.N.Phadke <jayadema@vsnl.net>
"Hi
This is Manas from India.
In the 2nd act in the scenario Strange Alliances I had this experience.
After destroying the huts I quickly built my town center near the farm, built
the barracks, arsenal & got all the resource upgrades from the market.
I then got to the colonial age asap.
In the meantime I shipped 3 falconets from the home city & built around 6-7
musketeers.
I got the upgrade for the musketeers & skirmishers from the arsenal.
Then I attacked the British base with my original units plus 3 falconets & the
musketeers.
I got lucky since the British also attacked my base at the same time & their
castle was still being built.
I destroyed the castle & then moved onto the base destroying the farms &
villagers & the towers.
The British troops were busy attacking my base so it was easy at their base
with the 3 falconets.
The troops did return but I could easily get rid of them.
After the houses were destroyed it was just a matter of time.
The British have a huge no of villagers so it was important taking them out.
Do try my strategy out & let me know what u thought of it.
Let me know if it worked or if I just got lucky."
—
It was a little too specific for me to playtest, but it sounds to me like you
got lucky with the timing. It’s worth remembering but I doubt you’ll be that
fortunate every time.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
You really need to move fast here, because the British will launch a big
attack on you when you think you’re fine, then they’ll launch another big one
very soon afterwards. I relocated to the south and left my market and houses
to get destroyed, since this would give me adequate warning of the first
British attack. Sometimes they’ll get taken out, sometimes they won’t.
Have at least ten lumberjacks, ten farmers and ten plantation workers, since
you need resources fast here. Develop and upgrade steadily, but don’t waste
your money on upgrades you won’t use. Work towards reaching the Industrial
Age, as you’re not taking the British base down without the brilliant mortars
or howitzers. As long as you keep enough units in and around your base to
protect them from the large double attacks from the British, you should easily
be able to heal and fill out your army, progressing towards launching your own
assault.
There’s not much else to say here – just build a big, upgraded army and
attack. Go with mainly ranged units, but send any special units you got from
the Home City along too.
The fort at the front of their base won’t give you problems if you hit it with
mortars and / or field guns, and there’s a few towers scattered around; but my
mortars had no difficulty erasing all the defense buildings while the rest of
my units protected them. Wait until the British have launched their latest
attack, then quickly send your own army in once the danger has been dealt
with. This is when the British are at their weakest, having just thrown
virtually every combat unit they have at you.
Try to hit them before they reach the Industrial Age, or at least attack as
soon as you get the message that they’ve reached it. You should have easily
reached it before them.
The secondary objective is easy enough – just kill the guardians of the five
sites dotted outside the red base and free the pairs of settlers – but I
completed it just before I killed off the last of the peasants, which is what
you’ll have to do to finish this level off once and for all.
.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.!!.¬==¬.
HOME CITY LEVEL: 11
XP: 139418
CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬
MANUFACTURING PLANT – STONEMASONS
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2.2.3 THE RESCUE
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"Stuart has been kidnapped, and John suspects his family’s old enemies, the
Circle of Ossus. The mercenaries head north, fearing Kanyenke’s sister
Nonahkee may be in danger."
¬==¬
DESTROY ALL THE BRITISH BUILDINGS TO UNITE KANYENKE AND NONAHKEE
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
TRAIN AN ARMY AND ATTACK THE BRITISH FROM THE SOUTH SIDE
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
ALLY WITH ANY OTHER IROQUOIS IN THE AREA (200 XP)
¬==¬
This one can be tricky, but if you keep bringing in the resources and postpone
putting together your southern army you can quickly swing it in your favour.
Just make sure the southern base doesn’t stop advancing while you’re dealing
with Nonahkee’s problems.
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Your first aim here is to build as many units from the northern trading post
as you can, because if Nonahkee’s base gets destroyed the level is over. You
also have to keep the trading post intact, and it would be a good idea to save
the lone tower too.
Immediately dump your town centre and get your starting peasants to build and
work on a mill. Start producing lumberjacks and miners with the food they
bring in, and fill in your northern squad with the maximum units when you can
afford to.
The British will regularly send out squadrons of foot soldiers to attack
Nonahkee. The first lots will be longbowmen and pikemen, but later they send
grenadiers and musketeers which are much more dangerous. Spend any spare
resources you have on your northern units, and make sure your peasants bring
in the Home City shipments as soon as they arrive to help out. You’re
basically juggling the steady development of your southern base (with the
priority being to advance through the ages) and fending off the attacks on the
northern one – the bigger and better your southern base is, the more
improvements and units you can build in the north.
Have at least ten peasants on each of the three resources, and don’t even
bother building a single military unit in the south until you know your
northern bunch can handle the British assaults. Your southern base won’t come
under attack at all if you don’t provoke the British, so keep advancing and
producing resources to help the northern base. You’ll have to mine the silver
until you reach the Industrial Age, at which point you can build one or two
plantations.
When defending the northern base there are a few things which you should take
care of:
Always make sure you have the maximum number of units from the trading post.
This threshold starts off low, but if you build trading posts at the other two
sites – north west and north east of your southern base – you can get a lot
more units in the north. Do this as soon as you have the wood – it makes a
huge difference, and also ticks that secondary objective.
In the north, keep everyone around the tower in one big group, and manually
negotiate each battle. I didn’t bother with the healers but maxed out
everything else, and kept Nonahkee healing her companions by herself. Let the
British approach the tower, then pull everyone out from behind it and hit them
one by one. Don’t let the British all attack the tower and ignore your units,
since they can bring it down and then you’re down one great defensive
building. Make sure they target your units first, but stay within the tower’s
range.
Once your units are sorted in the north, make sure you research Iroquois
Morning Wars and Iroquois Lacrosse when you can afford them from the trading
post. In the Fortress Age you get Iroquois Warrior Societies, which is pretty
damn useful too. By the time you get to the Industrial Age you should have
thirty-seven units up there, including Nonahkee, and you can basically stick
them in Defend mode by the tower.
Heal and replace units when each battle is over, and keep an eye out for the
next bunch of reds. And make sure you repair those two crucial buildings
(upgrade the tower when the options become available).
Anyway, when you’re sure that Nonahkee is safe, start building up an army in
the south. You really don’t need much, though I suggest you hit the Industrial
Age before attacking. I went with three mortars and a mixture of about thirty
other upgraded units, which was more than enough. Once you get to the stage of
building mortars it’s game over for the British, and if you’re cheeky enough
to use the Fort card to build a fort just south of the red gates, it makes it
even worse for them.
Hit the gates and towers with your mortars and the British will empty their
base at you and begin prioritising your southern base. Nonahkee is now pretty
much safe, so send her army south to meet up with your main army. When the two
meet in or near the British base you should get a new objective (though
sometimes it doesn’t appear).
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE BRITISH BUILDINGS TO UNITE KANYENKE AND NONAHKEE
¬==¬
You know what to do, and it’s pretty easy now that the entire map is revealed.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 12
XP: 155322
CARDS
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CATHEDRAL – ADVANCED DOCK
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2.2.4 THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR
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"War! The Seven Years’ War has begun, and the British and the French are at
each other’s throats – but John is focused on finding the British governor
Warwick, whom he believes kidnapped his uncle Stuart."
¬==¬
HELP THE FRENCH DEFEAT THE BRITISH
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
HELP DESTROY THE BRITISH ON YOUR SIDE OF THE RIVER
¬==¬
At first you’ll think your allies should make this one a stroll, but no. They
stink. Units and towers are the way to go to make sure that your – or your
allies’ – base doesn’t fall early; and for attack it’s just a mass brawl with
howitzers doing the damage. Hoard that lumber though.
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Help get rid of all the red units with your own starting army, making the
falconets a priority. With this done you get some coureurs (peasants), a base
and two new objectives.
¬==¬
PO: FIND AND DESTROY THE BRITISH FORT COMMAND BUILDING
SO: FIND AND CONTROL THE ONLY TRADE ROUTE (300 XP)
¬==¬
Same as usual – start building and developing. The British will periodically
be sending units over that southern crossing, but don’t just let your allies
deal with them. Pitch in when you can and take your fair share, since you
don’t want your allies’ town destroyed just because you couldn’t be bothered
getting off your arse.
You have quite a few buildings and you’re already in the Fortress Age. I
suggest getting into the Industrial Age as soon as you can, because there’s
not much in the way of mining around here, and you need a plantation.
Another thing you need is units, and lots of them. The British attacks seem to
almost always come across the southern part of the river, and they always have
lots of units. I got towers up at that crossing sharpish, because I couldn’t
get units together fast enough to fend off the British on their own: I also
had the brilliant Fort card, and a fort, a few towers and a trio of falconets
will take care of your defense forever.
To defend against the first few attacks you should really ship in a falconet
if you can, and use towers until your army is in place. Let your allies lend a
hand, of course; and try to bring in as many military units as you can find
from the Home City. Things will get easier once your plantation is up and
you’ve bought all or most of the town improvements.
Once you’ve dealt with a few of the British attacks near your barracks, they
may launch a big one on your allies’ town over the north crossing. Keep an eye
on the yellow town, and if you see a big sea of red moving in there, shift
your army over there fast, as this attack can easily wipe out your allies’
whole base.
Anyway, as usual the howitzers change everything, and with two or three of
them along with your legions of grenadiers, halberdiers, etc., you can begin
your attack on the red base.
Wait until you’ve killed off another British attack, then let your mortars or
howitzers take out the two towers at the far end of the southern crossing.
They shouldn’t come under attack, and your allies might be sending units over
beside yours anyway, so let them take the flak while you get busy. Beyond the
towers is the town, with mills, houses and a town centre. There’s another
tower to the west, and two or three more dangerous towers north, behind the
walls.
It’s important to take these towers out with your mortars while the rest of
your army backs them up: but it’s more important to hit the artillery foundry
just behind that southern gate as soon as you see it. Otherwise the falconets
can make your life difficult.
While you’re away your town should still be bringing in the resources, but you
may well have run out of wood. Buy what you need from the market, and set your
lumberjacks up in a new plantation to compensate. Replenish your army with
more units, since your attack will probably have been a success, but will have
left you with far fewer units to continue with.
Once your second army is in place, and your allies have suddenly got their
fingers out, it’s time to smash down the walls and head inside. Clear out the
towers first, and use your crossbowmen to chase down any stray peasants.
You have to destroy the Command Post, which is just west of that southern
gate; but to get that secondary objective you could head farther north and
destroy the trading post that the British have set up. Get John to build his
own in its place, then batter the Command Post to the floor, winning the
level.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 13
XP: 171942
CARDS
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MANUFACTURING PLANT – RUM DISTILLERY
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2.2.5 THE GREAT LAKES
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"John and Kanyenke head west, following Warwick’s trail – and Nonahkee,
Kanyenke’s strong-willed sister, goes with them. Washington has promised help,
but will his ships arrive in time?"
¬==¬
DESTROY WARWICK’S NAVY AND HIS TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
ADVANCE TO THE FORTRESS AGE AND BUILD AN ARTILLERY FOUNDRY
¬==¬
This mission seems more frantic than it is, and none of the objectives ever
live up to the difficulty you might have expected. Try to move fast with the
development of your base, but other than that this mission is pretty relaxing.
As far as I know, there is no time limit on it – you keep getting handed free
ships and so does Warwick.
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Take your starting military units to the village to the north east and build
the trading post. Then get them to pick up the nearby treasures – you should
be able to get away with it if you stay out of the range of the outpost.
Meanwhile start building your base. The idea is to get through the Fortress
Age to the Industrial Age as quick as you can, since mortars remain the only
decent anti-building unit you can produce. Get ten peasants on food, ten on
lumber and ten on coin. Use the trading post to build Iroquois to bolster your
forces, and keep shipping in combat units from the Home City.
When you reach the Fortress Age and build an artillery foundry you get a new
objective.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY THE THREE BONEGUARD OUTPOSTS BEFORE WARWICK’S NAVY REACHES LAKE
ERIE
¬==¬
You should be able to get to the Industrial Age with very little difficulty –
the British attacks are weak and pathetic, especially if you’ve already
visited the Home City a few times. You’ll know you’re doing really well if the
British hit the Fortress Age just as you’re leaving it and heading into the
Industrial Age.
You can’t build docks (or outposts) here, by the way, but you can build a
small to average army and assault the British base to the north. Get your
mortars to knock out the first tower, north of your base, and Washington sends
reinforcements to your town centre.
Quickly destroy the red base, including all the peasants, and with the second
tower gone Washington will send transports for you to use to reach the third.
Bring a covered wagon or a fort in from the Home City, and start piling it and
your armies onto the boats. Send them west to find the dock south of the third
tower, and unload your army to destroy the tower.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY WARWICK’S NAVY AND HIS TOWN CENTER
SO: AVOID LOSING ANY OF WASHINGTON’S FLEET (300 XP)
¬==¬
Washington has sent his navy, such as it is, to help you erase the red ships,
but you still have to work your way up this second island to the base and kill
off the marked town centre. Forget the ships for now and move your army up the
land. Stick whatever buildings you have next to the south dock, as you might
need reinforcements later.
Your land army becomes useless once that town centre is gone, so send your
faster units in first to draw fire, then your howitzers in behind to hit the
town centre above all else. If the town centre falls you’ve succeeded, no
matter if you lose your entire land army. This is unlikely to happen, however
– I went with four field guns, four howitzers and a bunch of grenadiers and
musketeers, and the whole base fell easily.
Now you can just collect all your free ships together and head north upriver –
it’s hard to imagine Washington’s fleet ever losing against the red ships,
especially if you stay away from the west coast and use the broadside attacks
cleverly.
You could also do it the other way round: send your navy north first and get
rid of the ships, then drop your army off at the north of the island, from
where it’s easier to hit the town centre. I’ve tried this but I got a message
saying that Warwick had escaped, and the level failed to end. Do it the long
way.
With the town centre and all the red ships gone you win the level.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 15
XP: 192310
CARDS
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MANUFACTURING PLANT – SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, TEXTILE MILL
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2.2.6 RESPECT
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"Seeking revenge for Stuart’s death, John and Kanyenke chase Warwick across
the plains, into the vast, uncharted wilderness of the West."
¬==¬
EARN EXPERIENCE TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF THE GREAT PLAINS
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
EARN 10,000 EXPERIENCE BEFORE THE CIRCLE KILLS ALL FIVE CHIEFS
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
BRING THE WHITE BUFFALO FROM WARWICK’S PEN TO THE LAKOTA VILLAGE (550 XP)
DESTROY WARWICK’S TRADING POST ON THE TRADE ROUTE (550 XP)
CLAIM THE LOST GOLD ON OWL ISLAND (650 XP)
FIND AND RETURN THE LAKOTA CHIEF’S DAUGHTER TO THE LAKOTA VILLAGE TO THE SOUTH
(600 XP)
HERD FIVE WILD HORSES TO THE LAKOTA VILLAGE TO THE SOUTH (550 XP)
BUILD A TRADING POST AT THE LAKOTA VILLAGE (400 XP)
DESTROY WARWICK’S OUTPOST ON BARREN HILL (500 XP)
¬==¬
This is similar to the sixth mission from Act I, but a little harder. Just let
Warwick do what he wants, while you build up your base and army and take down
at least five of the secondary objectives. You never have to go near your
enemy’s base to win this one.
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Take your wagon north and set up your town just above the Lakota village,
below the bottleneck between the two areas of water; and while you’re
producing more and more peasants send your heroes and their escorts scouting
around the area.
First of all there’s a trading post you can build in the Lakota village, which
takes care of one secondary objective. Send your fastest units to the Comanche
village in the north east, then due north to find four wild horses. Send them
back to the Lakota flags, followed by your own units; and pick up another
horse on the direct way back to make five. You should pass Warwick’s outpost
on Barren Hill, but you can come back later.
Now approach the water north west of the Lakota village – you should find the
Lakota chief’s daughter in the middle of the U-shaped pond – return her to the
flags to complete a third objective. Next send all your military units west to
find the red trading post. Delete its guards and destroy it (slowly). Watch
out for a few more reds coming to see what’s happening from the north – use
your heroes’ special attack to clear them out. Build your own trading post in
the same spot for an experience generator worth 103 points, and stick one or
two towers there just in case, though the trading post should hardly ever be
attacked.
The white buffalo is in a pen to the north of the trading post. It’s lightly
guarded and easy to claim – send it to the flags. That’s the easiest five
secondary objectives: if you want to try for the other two then do so by all
means, but you can complete the level easily without them (in fact I tend to
ignore the buffalo too).
If you are going for the other two objectives, here they are: farther west of
the buffalo’s pen is Owl Island, which can be reached by piling your units
onto the canoe on the water. Kill off the pirate guardians and get the two
free settlers to pick up the gold (you might want to put this one off until
you have a few more combat units).
Warwick’s outpost is just one tower guarded by a few red units. I tend to
ignore this one, since I only ever attack buildings with mortars or howitzers,
and you can complete this level long before you ever even build either. That
makes all seven secondary objectives, which takes you a long way towards
10,000.
I recommend you do at least the four or five easiest objectives if you can at
the very beginning of the level, as all that experience also gives you a lot
of Home City shipments you would otherwise have to wait longer for.
There are also lots of treasures sprinkled around, but only two you’ll want to
take particular notice of. There’s a Map to the Fourth Lost City of Cibola,
worth 285 XP, north of the buffalo pen; and the Armor of Arkantos due north of
the Comanche village, which supposedly increases a hero’s hitpoints by 40%
(though it had no effect on John Black for me).
Anyway, back to your main base and the battle with Warwick. Warwick will
occasionally be sending out big squadrons to hit some of the Native villages,
but when I completed this level I never bothered my arse helping any of them
except my Lakota neighbours.
There are five tribal chiefs, but by the time Warwick has killed two or three
you should be hitting 10,000 XP, if you’re doing it my way. That trading post
is giving you good experience; and once you’ve built and upgraded a whole lot
of things and shipped in a ton of free stuff from the Home City, you will be
nearly done.
For base defense you just need a mobile army and a few towers. You might want
to put your town in some southern corner, but I prefer being in the middle of
the villages, so that I can provide support quicker. If you do stick your town
north of the Lakota village you should put two or three towers to the west,
below the water. The reds are fond of sneaking big armies around that side, so
let your upgraded towers bear the brunt of their attacks until you can get
your army down there. This also helps defend the Lakota village. Stick a fort
there too if you have one.
Let Warwick kill off two or three chiefs as long as you know you’re getting
your points up fast. Use your Home City to bring in the main bulk of your
army, but fill it out with a bunch of grenadiers and a few falconets (the
best defense unit for this level). A smallish army and a few towers should
be enough to see off Warwick’s first two big attacks on your base, after which
you can just piddle about, exploring the map and picking up treasure to push
your score over 10,000 and win.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 15
XP: 203818
CARDS
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N/A
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2.2.7 WARWICK’S STRONGHOLD
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"In the snow-capped mountains far to the west of the colonies, John and
Kanyenke finally catch up with Warwick – and his Boneguard minions."
¬==¬
DESTROY WARWICK’S TOWN CENTER INSIDE HIS STRONGHOLD
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DESTROY WARWICK’S TOWN CENTER INSIDE HIS STRONGHOLD
¬==¬
For a penultimate Act level this is extremely easy. This is one where you can
ignore the secondary objectives and just go for the primary with no problems.
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You brilliantly start off in the Industrial Age, but you have very few
peasants and no means of building more, so get them started on farming,
chopping and mining, as if it will make a difference. You have enough
resources to build up a good few units anyway, so get a move on, since there’s
a countdown here.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"It seems that the game developers run out of either budget or time for
playtesting at about level 2.2.7. This level is a real cakewalk if you put
most of your starting units at the western edge where the treasure carts
appear. I had to fight off some reds from north of my town, but having 20
units or so where the carts appear pretty much took care of itself. My troops
would blow away most of the reds before they could really wake up. Just had to
go there once in a while and tell the carts to go to my town center. This spot
is also conveniently close to the red fortress when you go up there later.
Catching the carts may also starve the reds – they seemed underpowered."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Forget about the supply wagons – you can do fine without bothering to go for
them. All you really need to complete this level are a few Home City
shipments. Though obviously you should send them back if you happen to get
any.
Take one peasant off work and get him to build an artillery foundry right next
to your barracks. Either build or ship in some falconets and mortars (you
don’t need many, but spend as much as you want. Build a lot of grenadiers
while you’re at it, and upgrade your siege weapons.
You will soon be hit by a small attack from Warwick’s men, so fend it off
while you keep building your units. Send a unit just north of your barracks to
find a tower and a new objective.
¬==¬
SO: DESTROY ALL OF WARWICK’S OUTPOSTS (700 XP)
¬==¬
By now you should have some mortars, so wipe out the tower and let your other
units kill any investigating reds.
You’ve destroyed one tower, so go east to kill off the second one, then north
to hit the third. The third will have some red units near it, so send the rest
of your army along in support. The counter should not even be at 15:00 yet, so
try to pick up any nearby trading carts while you wait around for the next
objective.
¬==¬
SO: DESTROY WARWICK’S TRADING POST AT THE COMANCHE VILLAGE (500 XP)
¬==¬
You have plenty of time, so why not. Mortar it quickly for the points.
Your army should be sitting at the junction south east of the red base, so
move your mortars forward and start hitting the gate and any buildings they’ve
put outside their walls. The reds will react, so introduce them to your field
guns while everyone else mops up. There should be no way that Warwick can win
this battle – just keep everyone out of range of the towers until they’re
gone.
With the gate down it’s simple enough to advance until the town centre is
revealed – you don’t even need to bother with the towers. Mortar the town
centre and win, to the tune of Warwick’s blubbering. The timer should not yet
have reached 13:00. Easy peasy.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 16
XP: 210382
CARDS
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MANUFACTURING PLANT – SAWMILLS
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2.2.8 BRING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
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"John and Kanyenke learn why Warwick has traveled so far to the west. Can they
stop the Circle’s plan, or is it too late?"
¬==¬
BEFORE 10 GREAT CANNON GET THROUGH, FORCE THE RUSSIAN’S THROUGH THE NORTH
[their typo]
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
USE YOUR MINERS TO COLLAPSE THE ROCK BRIDGES
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
DESTROY A GREAT CANNON
¬==¬
This one’s a horrible balance between defending your base, attacking the
Circle’s units, and getting the miners to work as fast as they can. It can be
a nightmare if you fanny around too much with building up a town and an army.
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"This was the first level where I got tired of it and tried to end-run the way
the level was meant to be played. I never touched any units other than the
miners. Just walked them over to the bridges and knocked them down. Had to run
them away from the Russians once in a while and one persistent bunch of
Russkians followed and wiped out one group of miners but the rest got the job
done after 5 cannons had escaped. Didn’t get the bonus for destroying a
cannon. Also don’t get any experience for doing other stuff since I didn’t do
any other stuff."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Send the three miners west and right-click them on the near side of the rock
bridge. They will begin hacking at it, and you can check their progress by
clicking on the section of ice. When the gauge fills the miners will
automatically cross to the far side and start on that section.
Make sure the peasants at the north town centre are all chopping lumber, but
get one of them to pick up the resources sitting in the cave mouth. Get your
other peasants to build a mill, then build some more from the town centre –
you don’t need many peasants here but try to have five or so on each resource.
Now move your artillery and John over to beside the miners. Some Circle guys
will be coming up that pass soon, under the bridge, so you’ll want to be able
to kill them off quickly. By the way, your miners are brilliant at taking out
bunched groups of enemies, including the great cannons – use them as offensive
units whenever they come under attack. Make sure you kill off the first cannon
and its escorts while they’re going under the bridge, then resume working on
destroying it. It’s very nice if you can time the bridge’s fall to land on the
heads of your enemies, though it’s pretty rare.
Build a couple of houses back at the southern town centre, but don’t bother
with any other buildings. Your northern town centre will soon be attacked by
cavalry, so when you see the reds approaching it get your peasants out of
there and back to the southern town centre, where they can continue chopping
lumber. The reds attacking the top town centre will take ages about it, so
leave them to it.
The most important thing to do in this level is to bring in a fort wagon from
the Home City (on your first shipment if possible) and deploy it at the end of
the long pass leading north west, up from the bridge your miners are working
on (more miners will periodically appear at that northern cave, so send them
to whichever bridge you’re currently working on as soon as you see them – you
can have max of ten, I think). You want the fort in the middle of the end of
the path – where it widens out at the treasure item – in order to catch any
passing cannons. The fort is tough as hell, and it can take down one cannon
and its escorts before you’ll have to repair it. Resources in this level are
merely a means to get your experience up, so that you can ship in more units
and spend money on repairing your fort.
Once your fort is shipped in your next shipments should all be units –
falconets being ideal, followed by any mercenaries or other combat units you
have in your deck. Send them to join your army out in the field as soon as
they arrive.
Anyway, your miners will eventually bring down the first bridge, though the
Circle’s units can still use this northern pass by going around the wreckage
(thanks a bunch). When your miners are nearly done on both sides send your
falconets and other troops south to sit beside the next one, on the upper
cliffs. Send your miners down after them once the north bridge is gone, and
get them working on the next one.
This second bridge is pretty popular, especially since the squads going north
have to turn around and come back. Use your miners’ bombs and quickly replace
any miners you lose from the northern cave. Use your falconets to block the
lower pass leading east, and you should be able to catch all the red units
coming your way. Your miners will take a long time on this bridge again, but
keep shipping in all the falconets you can, and build a foundry and some more
houses. Falconets are all you want to build for units.
The second bridge will finally fall, even though one or two cannons might have
slipped through. Send the miners and everyone else down to the next bridge,
and make sure you check on the health of your fort. Heal it up if necessary,
as it can’t deal with two cannons without aid.
With eight or nine miners going at the last bridge, your bunch of troops
backing them up, plus your fort defending the northern pass, you should be
able to relax. By this point only two cannons had gotten past me: one of them
was the second one the Circle sent, and I just wasn’t ready for it; and the
other one just slipped through while I was busy manually targetting my fort on
a different cannon. Bastard. Anyway, the point is you should hardly be one
cannon away from defeat or anything, and it’s not hard to get your miners to
drop the last bridge while everyone else protects them.
When the third bridge goes you win the level, so long as fewer than ten
cannons have given you the slip.
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——————————-¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬—————————
2.3 ACT III: STEEL
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2.3.1 RACE FOR THE RAILS
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"After the Revolutionary War, Americans pushed westward into the wilderness.
It was a time of great change and technical progress – the dawn of the
Industrial Age – and nothing would ever be the same."
¬==¬
BUILD AND CONTROL THE RAILROAD WEST
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
BUILD TRADING POSTS ON ALL THE SITES ALONG THE TRADE ROUTE
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
ALLY WITH ANY NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE AREA (200 XP EACH)
¬==¬
This level is a lot simpler than it looks. You can own the Americans with a
handful of falconets and musketeers behind three towers; and your ‘attack’
will be so short and sweet it may put you to sleep.
If you have your base defence in order you can end this one as soon as you
have enough firepower to bring down one single outpost tower.
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"Another cakewalk if you don’t do what the game wants you to do. Take your
heros and military units to the first outpost place and build one there. I
wasn’t bothered there. Didn’t do anything to grow my economy – just took
whatever resources came in from the starting peasants. While there, have the
general summon as many cavalry as you have resources for. This freezes him in
place so he will lag behind. Go to the second outpost place and knock it down.
Some reds will come by – kill them off. Bring the general once he is done
summoning troops. Once he gets there, put him close to the new outpost (you
did build an outpost there, didn’t you). Kill off the second wave of reds that
might show up and run all but the general to the final outpost. Have the
general summon more cavalry but otherwise leave him there. More reds may come
to the party but he and his cavalry can usually hold them off long enough.
Once you get to the third and final outpost place, knock down the red one and
build yours. If the reds are heavy at the second outpost, send everybody but
Amanda back up there to protect it."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Build a trading post at the site to the south, and send your heroes due south
of your town centre, all the way to the bottom of the map, to find the Boots
of El Pollo Guapo, which boost a hero’s speed by 25%. North and then west of
your town is a free outpost wagon, guarded by some goons.
When building your base keep all your buildings to the north, north west,
behind the ones you start with. Your enemies have a habit of passing the
southern front of your base from the west and then attacking from the south
east, so don’t spread your buildings out. If you build three or four outpost
towers south west of your base you will be able to catch every one of the
enemy’s attacks.
Oh and make sure you’re getting your peasants from the houses rather than the
town centre – it’s so much cheaper.
Advance quickly and chop lumber in the south, beside where you found the
Boots. You want to have four or five falconets (upgrade to field guns later)
behind your three or four towers: these siege weapons, accompanied by a few
musketeers, your brilliant railwaymen and a priest or two, can hold the
Americans off forever.
When heading into the Industrial Age make sure you choose the Factory Wagon so
that you can build your first factory (a fort is also good for defense, and
bear in mind that you have those trading stations bringing you resources).
Upgrade the trading wagons to trains at the trading posts, and just keep your
falconets and other units healthy. Don’t bother advancing past the Industrial
Age unless you really want to – it’s unnecessary and only prolongs the time
given to the Americans to build congreve rockets, which you don’t want.
You can ally with the Natives if you want: they have one site due west of your
base, very close to the Americans; and another a little north west of the
southernmost trading post. I didn’t bother, as I just don’t get the point. The
northern one will get wiped out fast.
Once this is done and your peasants and factory are bringing in the resources,
all you have to do is build two or three mortars or rockets and send them
south to the first American trading post. It may have some guards, so send
some dragoons along with your mortars, then knock down the tower and other
buildings. Build your own trading post in the ruins.
West of here is the fourth site, and it should not be guarded at all (if it is
it will be very light). Your falconets and co. can easily defend your base
while you’re away, especially if you’ve upgraded your towers; but it doesn’t
really matter, since all you have to do is build a fourth blue trading post to
win the level.
Wipe out the red base from the south if you want the experience points – it’s
really standard and doesn’t even have towers.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 20
XP: 238190
CARDS
¬¬¬¬¬
FANEUIL HALL – CRATES OF 700 FOOD, CORDS OF 700 WOOD, CHESTS OF 700 COIN
MILITARY ACADEMY – CAVALRY DAMAGE, CAVALRY HITPOINTS, 2 FALCONETS, 1 MORTAR, 2
MORTARS, ADVANCED ARTILLERY
CATHEDRAL – VIRGINIA COMPANY, FORT, FACTORY, ROYAL DECREE TO CLAIM THE NEW
WORLD, ADVANCED ARSENAL, ADVANCED MILL
MANUFACTURING PLANT – STONEMASONS, SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, RUM DISTILLERY,
TEXTILE MILL
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2.3.2 HOLD THE FORT
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"With the other railroad companies beaten, Amelia is ready to continue the
work… until an unexpected event forces a change of plans."
¬==¬
DEFEND FORT OLOMA
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
SURVIVE UNTIL COOPER’S MEN ARRIVE
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
UPGRADE BOTH TRADE ROUTES TO TRAINS
¬==¬
At first glance it looks like hell, but you should find no problems here.
Build and heal your siege weapons and make proper use of the six trading
posts, and this level will be a pleasant stroll from start to finish.
And "Fort Oloma"? Pfff…
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"Move Amanda up to the north as far as possible and go eat dinner in a nearby
room. The reds *cannot* wipe out that base during the countdown – I gave them
3 chances and they just couldn’t do it. Maybe if I delete some of the cannons
they could. Since all you need to do is ‘survive’ I think that having any unit
or building left at the end of the countdown works. Once your new armies show
up you can mop the reds up any way you want."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
You’ll be a bit confused about what the hell you’re meant to do – I know I
was. Get any starting peasants you have working on a mill which you can build
in between the curves of the tracks; but don’t make any more peasants. Keep
one peasant standing by your town centre, ready to pick up any shipments you
bring in, or run outside and rebuild any broken walls which will be taking
damage throughout the level.
You will be wanting primarily wood and gold with which to build rockets and
falconets (upgraded to field guns). Pick wood in one of the trading posts, and
gold in the other. Send Amelia out to each of the four empty sites dotted
around the map, and get her to build a trading post at each one – they won’t
be attacked and they can bring in lots more resources. Choose experience at
one, food at another, and wood and gold at the remaining two, so you’re now
getting double the wood and gold.
From now until Cooper arrives it’s just a case of building siege weapons and
ranging them along the inside of your walls. I had four at each length of
wall, in between the gates. Just leave them where they are, and build a
mixture of field guns and rockets (or ship them in). Beaumont’s brilliant
organ guns will also do a great job for as long as they stand. Try building a
priest to heal up your siege weapons when they take damage – much cheaper than
having to replace them. If you keep at least one field gun and one rocket at
each corner of wall I can’t see you ever losing this level.
As for the walls, some parts will be destroyed, but it’s not hard to send your
lone peasant out to rebuild them, or to repair them if they’re still standing.
The Mexicans will throw more and more units at you, but nothing your siege
weapons can’t handle from the safety of your walls. Just keep an eye on the
health of the walls, and make sure none of the gates get destroyed.
Cooper appears with loads of units when the timer runs down, and just when you
thought you were going to win the level you get a new objective instead.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY ALL THE MEXICAN ARMY’S TOWN CENTERS
¬==¬
This is really easy too: just send your new army to the north west base and
wipe it out. It’s really that simple, especially if you wait for them to throw
another attack at your fort. Wipe out all the other buildings for the points,
then hit the town centre with the mortars while your soldiers protect them
from the – argh! – peasants. They don’t even have towers…
The south east base is different only by virtue of the fact that they have two
town centres instead of one. Same thing again: wait for an attack and then
send your enormous army in, all guns blazing. With the fall of the third town
centre the level is won.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 21
XP: 258772
CARDS
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CATHEDRAL – EXTENSIVE FORTIFICATIONS
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2.3.3 THE BONEGUARD’S LAIR
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"Amelia follows the strange Frenchman Beaumont to his gold claim in the
mountains, where a surprise – and an old friend – awaits."
¬==¬
CHASE BEAUMONT AND THE BONEGUARD OUT OF THE MINES
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
FIND BEAUMONT
¬==¬
This game is becoming more and more like a cross between Icewind Dale and
Desperados. This is a rare RPG-ish mission, and they’re never difficult in RTS
games. The only tough RPG missions in an RTS game came in Dungeon Keeper: The
Deeper Dungeons. I have spoken.
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"Just for fun, I did this whole level using only Kenyanke. Couldn’t quite get
Amanda to survive doing it all herself. Apparently Beaumont has all of his
troops wearing those invisible fence dog collar things. They can only get so
far from their post before they yelp and turn around and run back it. Once I
found where the invisible fence was for a group I could hit one with the big
arrow to bring him charging at me. Once he hits the fence run runs yelping
back to home. Unless you hit him with another arrow before he gets out of
range, then he turns toward you again. Kenyanke’s range is long enough that
you can keep a Circle guy running back and forth like an anxious poodle. Don’t
even need to stay at the computer. Just go back every minute to snipe another
Circle jerk until he dies. Ranged circle troops are a bit harder – you have to
stand further back so that they can’t fire at you from invisible fence. Takes
a long time to do it this way, though, but more challenging than collecting
the troops the other way – I ended up with such a horde that I had trouble
herding them through the caves."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Don’t bother going north from the starting point – go east instead until you
find the other cave entrance, where Beaumont is standing with two Boneguard
eejits.
¬==¬
PO: DRIVE BEAUMONT AND HIS MEN OUT OF THE MINES
¬==¬
Right then. Kill the two goons and head west for another objective. When
fighting the Boneguards, send your unkillable heroes in first to draw their
fire – in this way you can get through every fight except the final one
without losing any soldiers.
¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE WEAPONS CACHES (500 XP)
¬==¬
Destroy the cache, kill the next two Boneguards to the north west, take down
the stockade for three free doggies, kill the next two Boneguards to the
north, and send the wagon back to Kanyenke’s camp for reinforcements.
There are three camps along the southern pass: the western one gets you five
Cree trackers per wagon; the northern one gives you five clubmen; and the
eastern one gives you two medicine men. You only need two healers, so divide
the rest of the wagons between the other two camps. I like the trackers best
because I’m a Baldur’s Gate style ranged weapons whore, but the clubmen are
surprisingly effective.
You can now bring Kanyenke up to join your other guys. Send your Cree trackers
into the mines too, then head west for more goons, another wagon and another
stockade, just north of the first mine entrance. Send the wagon to the camp
for more guys, then head north once you’ve brought your new units up.
North of here is another weapons cache and more Circle gimps, then another
wagon up beyond them. You may have noticed that the caches are guarded by
wolves, but so what. There’s another one to the east, plus a couple of
Boneguard pistols which can boost someone’s hitpoints by 30% – I gave them to
Amelia.
Go east and meet with Beaumont; then east and south for some Boneguard armour
(you might want to leave this for later, once you have more troops), and some
clubmen in a prison cell. There’s only one way to go now, so go south to where
you met Beaumont the first time, then north east into the next part of the
mines.
Up here is another guarded wagon, and north of this are some Boneguard muskets
(leave them till later), another wagon and the Eye of Ornlu (piss off with
this Ornlu rubbish) worth 200 XP. The fights are getting bigger by now, so
split your troops up into three groups – healers in one, Cree trackers in one
and everyone else in the third. Wait until your wagons’ units reach you and
proceed.
To the east is another wagon and a few imprisoned skirmishers, and south of
here is the mine’s exit and another cache beyond it. That’s the last cache,
and the explosion will have destroyed the trees next to it, which means your
last wagon can get through quicker. Collect any treasure upgrades you have yet
to pick up, then head north, back inside the mines.
More Boneguards in here, but by this time your army is frighteningly large.
Free the musketeers and send the wagon to one of the camps, if you can be
bothered waiting for it. North of here is the biggest fight yet – save before
you head in, though you should win pretty comfortably.
Of the two treasures, the western one gives you a new objective once its
guardians are dead.
¬==¬
PO: FIND AND COLLECT THE SEMINOLE MAP
¬==¬
Collect that Seminole map, collect it a good ‘un! Sorry, this mission bored me
to bits. You’ve won. And there’s nothing farther north, by the way.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 22
XP: 267272
CARDS
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CATHEDRAL – COLONIAL MILITIA
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2.3.4 THE LOST SPANISH GOLD
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"Reunited with her granduncle Kanyenke and Major Cooper, Amelia is determined
to pursue Beaumont – and recover the Spanish gold her ancestors lost."
¬==¬
STOP BEAUMONT AND HIS THEFT OF THE SPANISH GOLD
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
DESTROY THE THREE OUTPOSTS GUARDING THE RUINED TREASURE SHIPS
¬==¬
The sooner you get the big gun the better, so get it as soon as you start.
Falconets and towers for defense; a factory and some upgraded peasants for
resources.
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Get building a base. Pretty soon you’ll get another objective.
¬==¬
SO: BUILD TRADING POSTS AT THE NATIVE VILLAGES (500 XP)
¬==¬
Send Amelia east to build a trading post at the nearest site, and once it’s up
you get a new objective.
¬==¬
SO: BRING KANYENKE TO THE REVEALED FOREST ALONG THE SOUTHEAST EDGE OF THE
SWAMP (300 XP)
¬==¬
Send your troops east along the cliff north of the nearest treasure ship
(where the pirates are guarding the sweet potatoes treasure item), then head
farther east along this cliff until you reach the second trading post, having
avoided the first red outpost. Build a second trading post with Amelia, then
take everyone south along the cliffs beside the swamp. Just north of the third
trading post you will find a huge gun on the cliff, which will come under your
control and cause Beaumont’s legions to suffer serious headaches from now on.
Knock down the trading post that the reds may have built down here, and build
your own in its place. It and the gun may come under attack later, but the gun
is very tough and you can easily send help. Or you can just build and upgrade
the excellent sharktooths from the trading post itself. That big gun will
start hitting the red fort and other buildings within its range, and it’s a
joy to behold.
Anyway, send everyone back along the route they used to get to the third
trading post, since your own base will soon be attacked from the south west.
You should now have ten peasants on farming and ten on lumber, with a few more
working on the first shipwreck just beside the first trading post. There may
be a couple of pikemen guarding it, so get them out of the way and start
mining the gold. Build all your subsequent buildings north east of your town
centre, tucked into the back of the map.
By the way, you might want to send your troops south west to sit on the cliffs
directly north of the red base. They will try to build a fort here pretty
soon, and if you’re there waiting you can kill it off before it has a chance
to exist. This will obviously make life a lot easier for your base.
Back in your base, the idea is to get a factory as soon as you can, and the
only way to do that is to advance to the Industrial Age and choose the Factory
card. Even though the reds will occasionally be attacking in numbers, you
don’t really need much by way of defense: a few falconets and musketeers
behind two or three towers will suffice, especially since your big gun is
doing a great job of eradicating most of Beaumont’s armies in the south.
Once you have your factory up you can get your gold miners to chop lumber or
something, and it’s time to start upgrading stuff left, right and centre.
Start with the factory and market upgrades, then go on from there. Build one
or two more towers on the south west face of your base for the sake of defence
and start constructing a mini-army. The plan is to get a few siege weapons
(the two rockets from the Home City will suffice), a bunch of about twenty
military units (I went with musketeers and dragoons), some falconets (four did
me fine); and a little squadron of sharktooths in the south, just to protect
the cannon.
With this little lot it’s easy to destroy the red outpost in the north east of
the swamp. The big gun will already have dropped the one in the south east,
and all that remains is to take out the one beside the red base. With the
above army it’s a walk – just destroy the tower with your rockets or mortars
while everyone else protects them.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY BEAUMONT’S TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
The town centre is now revealed, so send rockets or mortar shells over the
walls and erase it fast. Beaumont will send more units from the town centre
when it gets heavily damaged, but by that time it’s too late for him.
There is a medium base behind the walls and a fair amount of experience to be
gotten from smashing down the buildings and killing all the units. It’s easy
to do, but there is a bug that means the level won’t end if you take out the
other buildings first. If you can get rid of the base and leave the main town
centre for last and still complete it, great: but if not you’ll be stuck.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 23
XP: 281879
CARDS
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CATHEDRAL – PIONEERS
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2.3.5 BOLIVAR’S REVOLT
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"Learning that there may still be water from the Fountain of Youth hidden high
in the Andes, Amelia and Kanyenke set sail for South America, where they find
themselves caught up in the rebellions against Spain."
¬==¬
DESTROY THE SPANISH FORT’S COMMAND POST
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
HELP GENERAL BOLIVAR FREE THE TOWN TO THE NORTH
¬==¬
For once your allies are very useful, and if you keep making and spending
money, and also get the most use out of your siege units, this level is a
cinch.
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Head north and help the yellow guys destroy the goons and the tower, then you
get some buildings, ships and peasants, and a new objective.
¬==¬
PO: HELP GENERAL BOLIVAR FREE TWO MORE TOWNS
¬==¬
Immediately forget everything except putting Amelia on the galleon to the
south. Take the ship up the coast, past the cliffs, and drop Amelia off next
to the Indian village. Build a trading post here while your peasants
automatically collect the resources around the town centre. Once they’re all
picked up and the trading post is built, research the three upgrades while you
stick Amelia back on the boat and send her back to the town centre. You have
to do all this quick, as enemy ships are coming for you, and if you don’t get
Amelia over there and back you won’t get the Natives’ upgrades (at least not
until later).
Start building peasants and get them working on the mill, the mine and the
trees. Let the enemy ships appear and attack the dock – they’ll destroy it and
your ship, but your town centre should manage to wipe them all out (keep your
miners away until the ships are dead).
Before the timer runs down you’ll want to have built at least ten musketeers,
plus ship in some military units or resources (a falconet would be good). Your
and Bolivar’s troops will be attacked from the east at one point, but it’s not
hard to beat them away, especially with the help of the yellow cannon (keep it
safe). Bolivar will continue to gain more and more reinforcements all through
this level.
Bolivar and his men will head south east to the first village, so help him
clear away the towers and falconets. Try to keep your own falconet safe. If
Bolivar dies you just have to kill off the enemies near him and then approach
him again, as with any other hero.
¬==¬
SO: RESCUE BOLIVAR (300 XP EACH)
¬==¬
You get more houses, an arsenal and an artillery foundry when this town is
safe, plus a free mortar which you should move north west straight away, as
some reds will try to attack it.
Keep building up your forces, including some more falconets and some
grenadiers. There will be a few more attacks coming from that north east path,
but the falconets and troops can hold them off with no problems. Your peasants
will run out of coin at the first mine (if you have ten miners anyway), so
move them to the one in the far south.
Build up as much of an army as you can afford before the next attack, and send
your army around to the south east, where they can sneak around and up to find
a tiny little ranch protected by three towers and some Spanish units. If you
have plenty of grenadiers, musketeers and your heroes you should have no
difficulty in erasing the units and the towers, then you can run into the
fenced area to get some free dragoons and the two stables.
Fend off any Spanish attacks on the stables, and when the timer runs down
again you’ll see Bolivar head north from where he is. Let him go first, as
usual, then send your own units at the third town in a lovely pincer movement.
Your siege units can start on the towers while your army moves into the middle
and picks a fight. It’s really easy with a big army, and you’ll then get a
church, a barracks, a missionary, and some surgeons. You also get more
peasants at the northern mills – move them out of danger quickly.
¬==¬
SO: FREE ALL FOUR VILLAGES FROM THE SPANISH (1000 XP)
¬==¬
Take your army to the two stables and sit here while the next timer runs down.
Build a field hospital while your troops battle with the red attacks coming in
from the north. Get your mortar to destroy the two towers on the cliffs to the
west, above the mills; the falconet sitting north of the south east gates; the
tower next to the falconet; and finally the gate itself. You can also send
Amelia north west to that trading post if you haven’t got the upgrades
already; and a hero due north of the stables to find a trapped missionary.
You’ve got lots of time here to replenish your troops, so get in some more
falconets and grenadiers while your healing units heal up your existing
troops. By the time Bolivar moves you should have a few falconets and a big
army of other stuff, plus you should have cleared away all the Spanish
defences standing between you and the outpost (you could pretty certainly have
destroyed the outpost long ago if your army is a good size, but it’s more fun
to let Bolivar’s noobs go in first).
Again, wait until your yellow allies move, but this time just watch. This is
because they’re idiots, and they’ll stand attacking the walls at the gate,
blocking your way and messing your attack right up. Bolivar will soon gain the
upper hand, however, which is your cue to stroll in to the chaotic Spanish
base and raze the outpost to the floor.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 23
XP: 291307
CARDS
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N/A
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2.3.6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANDES
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"With Bolivar’s guides, Amelia and Kanyenke head into the mountains, seeking
the lost Inca in Pacamayo Valley – but the army of the Circle of Ossus is
right behind them!"
¬==¬
BEAT THE BONEGUARD ARMY TO PACAMAYO VALLEY
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
REACH PACAMAYO VALLEY
¬==¬
This level is a gigantic pain in the arse, and the secondary objective is
pretty misleading. It should be a primary, since you have no hope of
completing it if you let even one scout through.
The scouts are always in the form of cavalry archers by the way, and to kill
them you need to hit them once or twice with every one of your starting units,
or just once with one of your heroes’ unique shots. It’s crucial to keep all
your units alive, which means finding caves and treasure items.
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"You can actually rush this level – just be sure to kill the *first* scout.
Since you have to keep moving or die, you may as well keep moving forward. The
Circle army won’t catch up if you keep rushing. Stop briefly in the shelter-
caves. Your troops don’t heal until they stop moving briefly so watch for
that. Most of the individual reds will just run past – kill the ones who stop
to bother with you. You’ll have to kill the wolves – but not the treasure-
guardian wolves. The Red Army moves fast, but they keep stopping for a piss or
something. You can finish the level in about 10 minutes this way. Don’t know
if you can pause to collect the treasures and stay ahead. If you want to try,
kill maybe the first 3 scouts you run across to get a better head start."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Your bunch of guys will lose health for as long as they’re standing on snow,
so send them north to find the grass-floored cave. There are various such
sanctuaries dotted through the level, and they will fully heal your units
immediately when they reach them.
Soon you will see a scout run up from the south, and you’ll get a new
objective.
¬==¬
SO: DON’T ALLOW A SINGLE SCOUT TO REACH THE BONEGUARD ARMY (1500 XP)
¬==¬
This is very important (just watch what happens when you let one get by), so
snipe him down with one of your heroes, then proceed south to find two wolves
and another running scout. Always prioritise the scouts, even above getting
your units to the nearest cave. Kill the scout, then the wolves, and continue
south.
You will kill off another scout near a cave to the west, and your guys will be
low on health. Don’t go for the cave yet, however, as you are almost certain
to let the next scout slip by you. Wait in the snow at the junction leading
east, and only go for the cave when the fourth scout is dead.
Now quickly jump into the cave, then immediately pull Amelia out again, as
there is another scout trying to run past from the east. Use the double-
barreled attack to kill him, and pull everyone else outside and through the
shortcut, killing the two wolves on the way, and then another scout just
around the corner.
There are more wolves here, and another scout will pass by while you’re
fighting them – again, get the scout first. When you take your guys into the
cave to the north another scout will appear – kill him.
Now take Kanyenke south to the two-way cave, heal him up and send him south to
find the treasure item. Take out one of the wolves with Kanyenke’s unique
attack, then try to fight the other two by baiting them into following
Kanyenke into the healing caves. While he’s fighting keep an eye on your other
units, as there might be one more scout trying to pass. Pick up the Boneguard
armour to boost Kanyenke’s hitpoints, then send him to rejoin everyone else.
By the way, you will probably have come under attack by an uhlan or two –
these are different to the scouts, though they look the same, so don’t get
confused and target the wrong ones. Uhlans seem to always be heading in the
same direction as you, whereas the scouts (cavalry archers) are going west.
Anyway, come out of the cave and head north, killing off the wolves and
picking up the muskets while you watch out for more scouts. Farther north are
some ruins and more scouts, and you will see some Circle geeks appear on the
path to the west, where you were a while ago.
Work your way north and east to the next safe cave, keeping your eyes open for
more sneaky scouts all the time. Pass by the Boneguard armour and duck into
the cave, taking out the one or two scouts who’ll try to nip past. Now go out
and get the armour with everyone healed, and take out any scouts who try to
run through while you’re fighting the wild animals.
This next bit is tricky – it’s a long run of snow with two or three scouts
along it. It’s just possible to make it all the way down and then into the
cave just south of the first east turn. Scouts will again try to get past, so
use the heroes to catch them in the head.
Now head through that passage to the north, killing off the cougars and wolf
and another passing scout. Farther east is another big cave, so heal up in
here and then send your guys south to the bottom of the map, once they’ve
killed off another scout.
Down in the south is a medicine man behind a rock, whom you can save by
killing off the cougars. There should be no more scouts while you’re rescuing
the healer, so put everyone back in the cave before you proceed north. The
medicine man doesn’t take damage from the snow (though he can use the caves
for healing if hit by an enemy), so it might be an idea to send him north a
little on his own to explore, just so you know what’s coming. He’s actually
much more use for recon than as a healer, especially this far into the
mission.
The Circle’s army will now have made some progress along the path, but they’re
still far behind.
You will pass two more caves and a couple of scouts, and there is a treasure
item up in the north – the Eye of Ornlu (sigh). East is another cave, but here
quite a few scouts will pass while you try to heal and grab the treasure. Post
your medicine man down the next path to give you advance warning of incoming
scouts while you pick up the Eye, then heal up again before you progress down
the last pass.
Nothing much in this last stretch – just a couple more cougars and two or
three scouts. The final cave is at the bottom – head inside to end this
nightmare.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 24
XP: 296556
CARDS
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CATHEDRAL – IMPROVED BUILDINGS
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2.3.7 LAST CITY OF THE INCA
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"Having forced their way through the storm, Amelia and Kanyenke find Pacamayo
Valley at last – but the Circle is close behind."
¬==¬
DESTROY THE BONEGUARD FORT
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
GATHER EIGHT TOTAL ARTILLERY UNITS INTO THE FLAGGED AREA BEFORE THE THREE
INCAN TEMPLES ARE DESTROYED
¬==¬
This is probably the best level in the third Act, which isn’t saying much.
What makes it better than the previous mission is that in this one you get to
build up a base.
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"I didn’t bother with the Russians at all. It helps to realize that you
probably have at least 8 artillery units in your home town. Upgrade to
Industrial, ship in the artillery and you have that part done. You will need
to build some economy and build some troops to run around killing stuff. So
you can get experience. So you can get shipments. So you can get free
artillery from home. I didn’t grow any more peasants, just used the starting
ones and make sure they kept busy. Did I mention that having a ton of
artillery in the flagged area pretty much kept destroying the bad guys who
came into town? You’ll need maybe 20-30 troops for the second half to guard
the artillery. Take the southern route and stomp the fort."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Right. First things frickin’ last, as they say in Tripoli. You have two
enemies here: the Russians in the north are trying to hassle the Incas and
destroy their outposts; while the Circle in the south are actively attacking
the Incan temples, and your base in the process.
Two of the Incan temples are behind your walls, so you have no pressing need
to worry about them for the time being. The Incas are also doing what they can
against both sets of enemies, and they’re actually a pretty big help
throughout the level.
You have to get eight artillery units into the flagged area all at once – you
can’t just send eight different ones in at different times. New free artillery
units are appearing away along in the west, at the end of the northern path,
and you can stick them among the flags when they arrive, just so long as you
can get them back safely.
Anyway, more about all this later. Take all your peasants and build a mill.
Start building more peasants and target them to chop the trees outside your
northern gate, and while you’re waiting for them take all your military units
through that gate and west to find the first Russian gate.
¬==¬
SO: DESTROY THE RUSSIAN TOWN CENTER
¬==¬
At the same time bring the first heavy cannon from the west to the same gate,
and take out that tower it will meet on the way. The cannon can easily destroy
the tower, and the Russians stupidly ignore the cannon, which means you can
bring it to your other combat units at the Russians’ eastern gate and begin
attacking the gate with the cannon alone, while your other units sit beside it
and protect it.
The Russians will empty their base at you, but there’s nothing your starting
troops can’t handle. Use the cannon to quickly knock out any artillery the
Russians send out, though there should only be one or two. Also important is
the fort wagon which you should see coming through that gate at one point – be
sure to destroy it before it can deploy. If you miss it don’t worry – your
cannon can destroy the fort slowly but surely.
By the way, be sure to duck home to check up on your town every now and then.
You want a fort up as soon as possible, and peasants working on every
resource. There’s plenty of opportunity to speed your town’s development along
while you’re waiting for your cannon to destroy the gate, and the Incas can’t
hold off the Circle’s attacks on your gate forever. Priority one is protecting
your south west gate, so use your cards wisely. If you do manage to get in
some falconets from the Home City, sit them behind your south west walls, as
they’ll be very useful versus the Circle, especially while you’re waiting for
your first fort wagon.
Anyway, once the gate is gone hit the tower beyond it, then head inside and
start attacking the Russian buildings one by one with the cannon, with your
other units staying nearby for protection. It’s possible to decimate the
entire Russian base with just these troops, though a falconet should join you
soon from the extreme west. Hit the town centre to complete the secondary
objective, then proceed west until the last building is down and the last unit
is dead. You should receive a free mortar from the west a little later, giving
you three artillery units so far.
Before you leave the Russian base, sit your troops in the middle, against the
north edge of the map. The Russians will sneak in more troops from outside,
including falconets, and maybe even a covered wagon. You don’t want them
setting up shop again, so it might be an idea to bring a peasant or two up
here to build two or three outpost towers – these can make short work of any
more units the Russians bring in, which means the Russians are basically
defeated. Shift your lumberjacks up here to get started on the trees, since
supplies elsewhere are pretty thin.
This will all take a lot of time, and you will probably have been able to
flick back to your main base to keep up with its development once or twice.
You should have managed to get at least eight peasants on each resource (there
is a very valuable mine due south of your town centre, on the bordered path).
Advance to the Industrial Age and bung two forts (choose Fort when you
advance, and use your fort card from the Home City – two forts) at your
southern walls, where the Circle are making a constant nuisance of themselves.
The Incas can deal with the first few Circle attacks on your base, but this
won’t last long, and at least one fort down there is pretty necessary. The
Circle will probably have destroyed one of the temples, but this isn’t a
worry.
You should have taken care of the Russians by now, which is good because you
need to get your falconets and cannons back to your base in order to defend
your southern walls better. Get everyone home once you’re sure that the
Russians have been nullified, and with two forts, a few anti-infantry
artillery, and a couple of towers, you are safe from the Circle. Upgrade your
buildings when you can afford it.
You have also probably reached eight artillery units, thanks to the freebies
and your own cards. Dump eight of them among the flags to complete the
objective and get a new one.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY THE BONEGUARD FORT
¬==¬
Another thing to do is bring in a factory from the Home City. Use it to help
build up your base much more quickly, then you can start spending money on
upgrades and units. Once your army is in place and the Circle are just
throwing armies mindlessly against your forts, it’s time to attack their own
fort inside their base. They actually have two, but the easternmost one
doesn’t count.
Take your artillery through the gate at the southern wall of your base, and
into the little path (or just go onto the path at the wider bit to the west).
Follow with every other combat unit you have, though they may not be necessary
(I went for dragoons and grenadiers, plus my heroes). Take everyone slowly
along the path until you reach the walls of the Circle’s base.
Start chucking bombs over the wall to destroy that fort, and once it’s deleted
you win the level.
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HOME CITY LEVEL: 25
XP: 315591
CARDS
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CATHEDRAL – HEAVY FORTIFICATIONS
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2.3.8 LAST STAND OF THE BONEGUARD
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"The Circle has assembled in the Ossuary, their stronghold in Cuba. Will
Amelia and Kanyenke be able to stop Beaumont, or will the Circle win at last?"
¬==¬
DEFEAT THE CIRCLE OF OSSUS
¬==¬
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
BRING AMELIA TO HAVANA’S TOWN CENTER
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
ALLY WITH THE CARIB NATIVE AMERICANS (2000 XP)
DESTROY THE CIRCLE’S NAVY (2000 XP)
¬==¬
This final level looks impressive on first sight, but it’s extremely simple
once you get your base defences sorted out. That’s the only hard bit, and the
whole thing might leave you wondering whether that’s all really all there is
to it.
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______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
Larry N
"The key facts to this level is (1) you need to survive a timer, (2) the bad
guys cannot possibly destroy Havana on schedule, and (3) once you survive the
timer you basically get an infinite supply of Monitors. The hardest part is
getting past that first ambush. And that isn’t hard. After doing that I ran to
Havana, triggering that countdown. Then built a dock at the north near the
Spanish docks, and suicided everything except Amanda and Kenyanke. Had Amanda
hide off in a corner. Hiding one unit in a forgotten corner counts as
‘survive’. The dock is nice since you can build a third Monitor there. The
Spanish will keep you well supplied with enough resources to build your ‘third
monitors’. The Americans ship in 2 monitors and some other ship every time you
lose the other ones. I like to build a third monitor as your monitors get
taken out pretty fast by the giant cannon. Having three rush a cannon lets you
get in a few extra shots before the cannon takes them all out. Then the
Americans ship in a couple more – you can build a third. Rinse and repeat.
Despite rumors to the contrary, the monitors *can* reach the temple. For a
while I thought you couldn’t possibly lose this level. Finally found a way to.
Suicide everything that can be deleted then get Amanda and Kenyanke both dead
at the same time. Sinking the ship they are on might let you lose too."
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
You’ll have to use the land route, since there’s no way your ships are getting
past the Circle’s cannons. Take your three ships east and drop everyone off on
the beach.
Work your way around the area, picking up whichever treasures you feel like
going for (try to at least get the two settlers). Farther north is a bunch of
Circle tits, and once you remove them you can head up to the yellow base.
Don’t go in until the yellows have fended off the Circle’s attack on their
own, and pick up the other two settlers being held prisoner south of Havana.
When you get Amelia to the yellow town center you get given your own covered
wagon. You could base your town away down to the south, but I prefer dumping
my town centre close to Havana, both for their support and for those three
mines. When your town centre opens you get two new objectives.
¬==¬
PO: SURVIVE UNTIL THE US NAVY ARRIVES
SO: ADVANCE TO THE IMPERIAL AGE
¬==¬
The Circle will be sending squads of troops at Havana, and at you if your base
is close enough to be targetted on the way. It’s an excellent idea to do what
you can to save your yellow allies, so there are two things you need to do to
defend the two bases: build towers along the southern edge of Havana; and
produce five or six falconets.
But to get all this done you need resources and settlers, so move quickly to
get at least ten peasants on each resource type. Havana will occasionally
tribute you with 300 of each type, which will definitely help.
The reds will pretty much always send falconets along with their smaller
troops, and the best things for killing off falconets are other falconets.
Unfortunately you’re building a base from scratch, so bring in some
intelligent Home City shipments (peasants if you have them) while you use your
meagre few starting units to help Havana kill off the first two or three
Circle attacks. Havana can probably take care of all the Circle units except
the falconets, so prioritise them with your own units.
You probably don’t need to be told what shipments to bring in by now, but I
definitely found a fort to be a good idea, especially for picking off those
falconets. There are not a lot of trees about, and both Havana and the Circle
are going for what wood there is, so a Factory card upon progression to the
Industrial Age is also a good idea.
You might also want the cuirass (haven’t heard that word since Morrowind) of
El Pollo Guapo which can be found south of your base, guarded by some goons.
It will effectively double a hero’s hitpoints, though I can’t help feeling
this would have been more valuable earlier in the game, especially since
you’ll hardly be using your heroes on their own in this final level.
Other than the above, there’s not much else to talk about until the timer runs
down and the American ships turn up. This is where things definitely swing in
your favour.
¬==¬
PO: DESTROY THE OSSUARY SHORE GUNS AND TEMPLE
¬==¬
You now have two utterly brilliant monitor ships, whose ranged special attacks
can decimate most of the Circle’s buildings with one or two shots. You can
also send Amelia over to that small island in the west, in order to build a
trading post in the Carob village – Amelia should be able to kill off the
guards with the help of the ship.
By now you’re probably in the Industrial Age, and you may even have or two
factories or forts. There’s nothing much else to say about this level – just
build up a standard army and assault the Circle’s base, and fend off their
attacks with your towers, forts and falconets while you’re building it. The
monitor ships can do you a big favour in wiping out the Circle’s defenses and
fortifications, and in fact the temple is about the only building they can’t
drop from the safety of the sea. Just make sure you’ve gotten rid of the
surrounding cannons before getting too cavalier with the precious ships,
though they will be replaced later if you lose them (the ships, not the
cannons).
To finally take down the red base, let the Havanananianians (?) head in first,
ideally right after you’ve soaked up the latest Circle attack on your base.
They should do pretty well if you’ve destroyed the Circle’s cannons and
outpost towers with your ships (make sure you get the tougher fort towers
too). Then send in your own massed troops while the Circle are busy dealing
with your allies, and get busy knocking out the unit production buildings and
town centre.
There are some Circular frigates and other ships down in the south which might
give your units problems, but you can build a dock of your own and send in
your monitors, frigates and galleons to rid yourself of the red fleet.
To finish the Circle off once and for all, head inside the last enclosure
where the temple awaits. Beaumont is lurking in here, with grenades that can
kill off one heavy cannon per shot; plus various wild animals and Boneguards.
By this time your army should be ludicrously overblown, and it’s a case of
just hammering away at their tough temple with everything you have in the
area. Once the temple’s down it’s bye-bye to the Circle and hello to the
ending movie.
Congratulations on completing the game. Now try it on Hard difficulty and cry
when you reach Temples Of The Aztec.
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3. CONTRIBUTIONS
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Version 1.0 –
11 December 2006 – Michael Sarich: Copyright Disclaimer
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Version 1.1 –
21 December – Derrick Herman <darkrole05@yahoo.com>
Contributed to section 1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
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Version 1.2 –
N/A
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Version 1.3 –
17 April 2007 – john SMITH <westmidlands1@hotmail.co.uk>
Contributed to section 2.1.1 BREAKOUT
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Version 1.4 –
N/A
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Version 1.5 –
05 December 2007 – J.N.Phadke <jayadema@vsnl.net>
Contributed to section 2.2.2 STRANGE ALLIANCES
03 January 2008 – Guy Becker <primas_4@yahoo.com>
Contributed to section 1.1.2 HINTS AND INFO
03 January 2008 – Carmine Arpaia <carmine@pimlicogroup.com>
Contributed to section 2.1.1 BREAKOUT
27 January 2008 – Larry N
Contributed to sections 2.2.7 WARWICK’S STRONGHOLD; 2.2.8 BRING DOWN THE
MOUNTAIN; 2.3.1 RACE FOR THE RAILS; 2.3.2 HOLD THE FORT; 2.3.3 THE BONEGUARD’S
LAIR; 2.3.6 JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANDES; 2.3.7 LAST CITY OF THE INCA; 2.3.8 LAST
STAND OF THE BONEGUARD
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THANK-YOU TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS
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4. VERSION HISTORY
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Version 1.0 completion – 11 December 2006
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Version 1.1 completion – 06 January 2007
Section 1:
Section 1.1.2 – Added notes about advanced formations; heroes; Imperial Age
Miscellaneous:
Corrected typing and formatting errors
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Version 1.2 completion – 01 February 2007
New disclaimer
Section 1:
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE – Improved information
1.3 CONTACT ME – Improved information
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Version 1.3 completion – 19 April 2007
Corrected typing and formatting errors
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Version 1.4 completion – 04 August 2007
Corrected misnamed version number
New disclaimer
Section 1:
1.3 CONTACT ME – Updated information
Corrected typing and formatting errors
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Version 1.5 completion – 30 March 2008
Section 1:
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE – Improved information
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Thank-you for using this walkthrough. I hope it helped you out, or at least
taught you how _not_ to play the game. At the very least, I hope you found it
entertaining.
This guide was written and formatted with the excellent Metapad:
http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/
Useless – utuselessut@hotmail.com
This walkthrough reposted to TheGameReviews.com with permission of the author.
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